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CAITHNESS      EVENTS. 


M 


4?: 


hL    iJ|. 

THOMAS     SINCLAIR. 

4- 

--■t— 


CAITHNESS  EVENTS : 

A  DISCUSSION  OF  CAPTAIN  KENNEDY'S 
HISTORICAL  NARRATIVE, 


AND 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BEOYNACH  EARLS. 


I5Y 


THOMAS  SINCLAIR,  M.A., 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  GUNNS,"  "  THE  SINCLAIRS  OF  ENGLAND, 
"  TRAVEL  SKETCH:'  ETC. 


WITH   PORTRAIT  AND  APPENDIX. 


SINCLAIR     ARMS. 


WICK :  W.  RAE. 

1894. 


PRINTED  AT  THE 

NORTHERN  ENSIGN  OFFICE, 

WICK. 


TUT    I  IRDADV 


PREFACE. 


In  "  Caithness  Family  History,"  by  John  Henderson,  W.S.,  published  at 
Edinburgh  in  1884,  there  is  reference  on  page  109  to  "a  MS.  on  Caithness 
affairs  by  the  late  Captain  Kennedy  of  Wick  ; "  and  a  letter  to  the  Northern 
Ensign  dated  11th  November,  1882,  mentions  a  statement  by  "  a  Wick 
gentleman,  the  late  Captain  Kennedy,  who  died  many  years  ago,"  the  same 
MS.  the  source  of  it. 

Whether  he  was  of  the  Kennedy  wadsetter  family  of  Stroma  described 
by  Henderson  pp.  328-9,  is  an  interesting  question  which  may  yet  be  solved. 
Murdoch  Kennedy  was  the  last  of  these  semi-lairds  of  the  famous  island 
which  divides  the  raging  Pentland  Firth  ;  and  his  tenure  closed,  probably 
with  his  apparently  eccentric  life,  about  1721.  Dr.  John  Kennedy  of 
Kermucks,  Aberdeenshire,  not  Fifeshire,  came  to  Caithness  in  1659 ;  or,  at 
all  events,  in  that  year  he  had  a  wadset  of  part  of  Stroma,  on  which  he 
built  a  house  still  existing,  from  George  Sinclair,  the  sixth  and  neediest 
Earl  of  Caithness,  Glenorchy's  victim.  Fleet -Paymaster  John  Bremner, 
R.N.,  a  distinguished  native  of  Canisbay,  and  a  relative  of  the  late  James 
Bremner,  C.E.,  Wick,  remembers  that  local  people  used  to  say  the  first 
Kennedy  was  a  buccaneer  or  pirate,  and  that  he  brought  to  Stroma  a  chest 
of  Spanish  doubloons,  gold  coins  which  have  varied  in  value  from  32s.  to 
64s.,  according  to  authorities.  The  reason  of  his  wealth  will  appear,  if  the 
tradition  had  fact  to  go  on  ;  for  it  must  have  been  the  proceeds  of  the  estate 
of  Carnmux.  Very  little  gold  would  count  much  then  on  the  island.  In 
a  royal  charter  to  Sir  John  Forbes,  of  date  4th  August,  1669,  John  Kennedy, 
senior,  and  John  Kennedy,  junior,  of  Carnmux,  Udny  parish,  Aberdeenshire, 


vi  PREFACE. 

are  mentioned  among  those  who  resigned  portions  to  a  newly-erected  barony 
in  favour  of  Sir  John  ;  and  the  fact  is  given  that  John  Moor  was  then  the 
laird  of  Carnmux,  otherwise  spelt  Kermucks.  The  elder  John  Kennedy 
came  to  Caithness  after  the  family  estate  had  been  lost  or  sold,  at  all 
events,  alienated.  In  1643,  1644,  and  1646  John  Kennedy  of  Karmucks 
was  on  the  committees  of  war  for  ihe  sheriffdom  of  Aberdeen  and  a 
commissioner  of  supply,  evidently  the  elder  of  the  Johns.  See  "Acts  of 
Parliament  of  Scotland."  Bishop  Robert  Forbes's  MS.  diary  of  his  visit  to 
Caithness  in  1762,  says  the  latter  was  Dr.  John  Kennedy,  and  that  he 
"fled  to  Stroma  for  homicide,  having  killed  a  Forbes  of  the  family  of 
Foveran."  This  throws  some  light  upon  Henderson's  puzzle  of  three  John 
Kennedys,  for  John  "sometime  elder  of  Kermucks"  was  "John  elder  of 
Stroma,"  two  Johns  being  only  in  question.  Murdoch  of  1700  was  brother 
of  the  younger  John.  The  Canisbay  parish  register  shows  that  the  surname 
Kennedy  has  been  prevalent  since  their  time  in  the  island.  A  minute-book 
of  sasines  of  Caithness  has  various  references  to  the  Kennedy  family.  John 
Kennedy,  younger,  of  Upren,  in  1678  was  put  in  possession  of  four  penny 
and  an  octo  of  land  in  Stroma,  his  legal  agent  William  Smith.  On  1st 
April,  1681,  at  Wick,  John  Kennedy,  elder,  of  Stroma,  had  sasine  on 
Milton  there,  Donald  Harper  his  lawyer.  At  Wick,  1st  May,  1685,  Patrick 
Sinclair,  public-notary,  presented  to  the  court  the  sasine  of  John  Kennedy 
of  Carmucks,  and  of  his  spouse,  on  the  nether  township  of  Stroma.  John 
Forbes,  notary,  of  date  Wick,  28th  June,  1687,  presented  a  sasine  by  John 
Kennedy,  senior,  of  Stroma,  in  favour  of  John  Sinclair  of  Ratter,  his  spouse, 
and  children,  of  the  over  township  of  Stroma,  and  on  30th  August  another 
to  Elizabeth  Sinclair,  the  lady  of  Ratter,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Sinclair 
of  Mey,  and  her  children,  on  the  same  land ;  a  renunciation  by  Beatrice 
Stuart,  spouse  to  John  Kennedy,  younger,  of  Stroma,  in  favour  of  Elizabeth 
Sinclair,  as  to  the  over  township,  presented  the  same  day.  On  9th 
December,  1714,  Hugh  Campbell,  public-notary,  presented  at  Wick  a  sasine 
in  favour  of  Murdo  Kennedy,  to  the  nether  township  of  Stroma.  Suther- 
land of  Westers  tale  about  the  Kennedy  mummies  in  Stroma  is  too  well 


PREFACE.  vii 

known  to  need  repetition  ;  the  medical  title  of  the  first  of  the  family  in  the 
county,  perhaps  explaining  and  excusing  his  son  Murdoch's  extraordinary 
filial  or  unfilial  performances,  charnel-house  and  dissecting-room  apt  to 
destroy  reverence  for  the  human  form  divine.  Pope  of  Reay,  Pennant,  and 
Calder  (pp.  19,  20)  write  of  the  Kennedys,  Low  noting  the  duel. 

Of  Captain  Robert  Kennedy,  the  author  of  the  curious  and  valuable 
MS.,  a  good  deal  can  be  gathered.  He  is  written  down  "Major  Rt. 
Kennedy  "  on  the  back  of  his  little  work,  but  the  caligraphy  is  not  his,  and 
the  "Major"  must  be  a  mistake  of  some  one  who  possessed  the  document 
after  his  death.  There  is  an  endorsation  in  still  another  hand  upon  it  thus, 
"  To  be  returned  to  Wra.  Waters,  Savings  Bank,  Wick."  In  Wick  church- 
yard an  epitaph  gives  reliable  facts  : — "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Captain 
Robert  Kennedy,  94th  regiment,  Scotch  brigade,  who  died  at  Harlancl, 
28th  February,  1818,  aged  65  ;  likewise  of  his  partner  in  life,  Emilia  Taylor, 
who  died  27th  November,  1834,  aged  73."  He  was  thus  born  in  1753; 
and  as  the  MS.  states  within  itself  that  it  was  composed  at  Wester  in  1814, 
Captain  Kennedy  was  61  when  he  wrote  it.  That  his  wife  was  one  of  the 
Taylors  of  Thura,  for  whom  see  Henderson's  work,  is  established.  The 
parish  register  of  Wick  has  several  notices  of  him  from  1799  to  1812  as 
witnessing  and  cautioning,  where  he  appears  as  "  Captain  Robert  Kennedy, 
Wester."  On  22nd  October,  1808,  Donald  Miller,  tacksman  of  Noss, 
contracted  to  Jean  Sutherland,  Olrig,  the  cautioners  Captain  Robert 
Kennedy  and  Benjamin  Waters,  tacksman,  Harland,  the  marriage  cele- 
brated 10th  November.  In  Olrig  register  "Mr."  Donald  Miller  in  East 
Noss,  Wick,  and  "  Miss  "  Jean  Sutherland's  contract  is  entered  as  at  Olrig 
on  20th  October,  as  if  there  had  been  a  double.  They  were  the  parents  of 
the  late  Kenneth  Miller,  London,  a  rich  Australian  merchant,  married  to 
Caroline  Dunnet,  Thurso.  When  "  Lieutenant  Robert  Kennedy  in  Wick," 
he  had  a  son  born  by  his  wife  Emilia  Taylor  November  21st,  1800 ;  but 
this  son  was  not  baptized  till  15th  November,  1818,  as  Benjamin  Miller 
Taylor,  the  witnesses  Bailie  William  Mackay  and  "Mr."  Donald  Miller, 
Staxigoe,  the  latter  the  father  of  Alexander  of  the  Field  (1740-1833),  one 


viii  PREFACE. 

of  the  founders  of  Wick  herring  fishery.  At  the  time  of  that  baptism 
Allan  Macfarlane  was  the  fishery  officer,  the  ancestor  of  the  Macfarlanes  of 
Caithness.  It  would  seem,  from  the  above  interval  of  birth  and  baptism, 
that  Lieutenant  Kennedy  was  of  the  Baptist  persuasion,  then  prevalent  in 
and  about  Wick,  Sir  Wiliam  Sinclair  of  Keiss  one  of  its  notabilities. 
Indeed,  Sir  William  had  a  son  with  the  first  name  of  Kennedy,  as  had  also 
a  John  Sinclair,  Gansclett,  one  of  the  Broynachs.  But  these  facts  may  be 
out  of  connection  with  the  captain.  Earlier  still,  December  31st,  1790, 
Lieutenant  Robert  Kennedy  and  Emilia  Taylor  had  a  son  baptised  Patrick, 
the  witnesses  "Mr."  Alexander  Miller,  Staxigoe,  and  "Mr."  James  Thomson. 
At  that  time  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  Baptists.  On  April  10th,  1791, 
Lieutenant  William  Macbeath  in  Reiss  and  Jean  Taylor  baptized  a  son 
William,  the  witnesses  Sir  Benjamin  Dunbar,  Baronet  of  Hempriggs,  and 
Lieutenant  Robert  Kennedy.  As  Jean  must  have  been  Kennedy's  wife's 
sister,  and  as  she  is  noted  by  Henderson  as  daughter  of  George  Taylor,  laird 
of  Thura,  married  to  Lieutenant  Macbeath,  it  may  certainly  be  taken  that 
Mrs.  Robert  Kennedy  was  of  the  family.  Jean  was  born  12th  May,  1765, 
and  died  19th  June,  1846,  her  husband  of  the  91st  regiment.  More  of 
these  Macbeaths  were  officers  in  the  army.  In  Canisbay  parish  register  it 
is  recorded  that  Lieutenant  William  Macbeath  and  "  Mrs."  Jean  Taylor, 
daughter  of  George  Taylor,  Esquire  of  Thura,  were  lawfully  married  at 
Warse  on  loth  February,  1789.  Her  brother  William  was  baptized  24th 
January,  1771,  the  witnesses  Alexander  Sinclair  of  Brabsterdorran  and 
George  Mackenzie,  Thurso.  There  are  several  entries  in  Bower  register 
about  the  Taylors. 

It  is  evident  that  Captain  Kennedy  was  of  good  standing ;  and  the 
period  in  which  he  wrote  this  MS.,  entitled,  "  Anecdotes  partly  authenti- 
cated and  partly  traditional  relative  to  the  history  of  the  county  of 
Caithness,"  had  special  advantages  to  make  his  narrative  peculiarly  useful. 
There  is  no  time  with  less  knowledge  of  local  affairs  than  that  which  his 
adult  life  covered,  say  from  1770  to  1818 ;  and  the  lost  events  of  the  latter 
half  of  the  eighteenth  and  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  must  have 


PREFACE.  ix 

been  to  him  of  everyday  familiarity.  It  is  a  little  to  be  regretted,  therefore, 
that  he  seems  to  have  had  more  interest  in  ancient  facts  than  those  near  to 
him,  unless  his  narrative  stopped  of  necessity ;  but  his  piece  is  nevertheless 
well  worthy  of  preservation,  as  it  also  deserves  careful  correction  and  kindly 
discussion  as  a  county  work.  The  text  is  scrupulously  kept  apart  from  the 
historical  editorial  commentaries  upon  it,  in  full  justice  to  its  author,  by 
different  type  and  other  indication. 

The  story  of  the  preservation  of  the  MS.  is  that  Bailie  Waters,  Wick, 
who  was  married  to  a  daughter  of  Captain  Robert  Kennedy,  left  it,  with 
other  curiosities,  to  the  late  George  Macadie,  at  the  recent  sale  of  whose 
effects  it  was  purchased.  It  came  into  the  hands  afterwards  of  Rev.  John 
Home,  228,  Meadowpark  Street,  Glasgow,  the  writer  of  the  booklet, 
"  Wick  :  In  and  Around  it,"  a  native  of  the  town  he  describes.  To  him  the 
editor  of  the  MS.  owes  the  opportunity  of  offering  it,  with  full  notes,  to 
readers,  as  a  considerable  addition  to  the  local  literature.  That  during 
postal  transmission  the  original  went  for  some  weeks  astray,  or  into  hiding, 
makes  its  safe  keeping  henceforth  by  book  a  subject  of  satisfaction,  more 
especially  to  the  sender  and  receiver. 

By  far  the  most  important  section  of  the  following  pages,  however,  is 
what  to  the  Kennedy  survival  takes  the  form  of  a  "  continuation,"  chrono- 
logical and  substantial,  embodying  the  latest  results  of  exhaustive  inquiries 
about  the  false  succession  of  the  earldom  since  1772. 

The  appendix  bears  a  large  burden  both  of  home  and  of  transatlantic 
affairs. 


The  Press  Club, 

London,  1894. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I.  page. 

The  Kennedy  Manuscript's  Opening 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
A  Bishop's  Death 7 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Cheyne  Family 17 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Keith  and  Gunn  Feud 24 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Second  Sinclair  Earl  oe  Caithness 29 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Battle  of  Summerdale  in  Orkney 36 

CHAPTER  VII. 
John,  Master  of  Caithness,  and  his  Father 39 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Revenge  or  Justice 47 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Pedigrees,  Castles,  and  the  Caithness  Estate 56 

CHAPTER  X. 
Battle  of  Altimarlach 61 

CHAPTER  XL 
The  Breadalbane  Rights  in  Caithness 67 


xii  ,  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XII.  Page. 


The  Broynach  Question 


72 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing 79 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
David,  Earl  James  his  Son,  and  Donald 93 

CHAPTER  XV. 
James  the  Chamberlain  and  his  Descendants 107 

APPENDIX. 

I.  Letters  by  George  the  Fifth  Earl 115 

II.  Twickenham  and  Reay 128 

III.  Prince   Henry   Sinclair,  the  Pre-Columbian   Discoverer 

of  America 138 

Explanation       180 


CAITHNESS    EVENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  KENNEDY  MANUSCRIPT'S  OPENING. 

"  From  the  earliest  accounts  handed  down  to  us,  it  would 
appear  that  Caithness  and  the  neighbouring  county  Sutherland 
were  possessed  by  a  tribe  of  the  people  called  Catti,  who  had 
emigrated  from  Germany,  and  that  part  of  it  which  forms  the 
present  landgraviate  or  electorate  of  Hesse.  The  county  of 
Caithness  being  a  promontory  advancing  into  the  North  Sea, 
and  the  word  ness  the  general  term  for  any  projecting  headland, 
as  the  Buchan  ness,  Orford  ness,  Fife  ness,  and  others,  it  hence 
acquired  the  name  of  Caith  ness,  or  the  ness  of  the  Catti. 
Whether  these  German  adventurers  were  the  original  settlers, 
how  long  they  possessed  the  district,  or  under  what  form  of 
government,  are  points  on  which  we  have  little  information. 
Nor  perhaps  is  it  very  material.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  on  the  final  subjugation  or  expulsion  of  the  Picts  by 
Kenneth  Macalpin,  the  whole  kingdom  of  Scotland  to  its 
utmost  northern  extremity  became  subject  to  that  monarch." 


The  arrival  of  the  Catti  in  Scotland  is  dated  a.d.  91,  during  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Domitian.  Agricola  the  Roman  general  was  then 
conquering  even  to  the  Orkneys ;  and  the  Scottish  king,  Galgacus,  whom 


2  CAITHNESS 

the  historian  Tacitus  has  immortalized,  received  these  Catti  or  Saxons, 
when  they  came  to  the  river  Tay,  as  valiant  supporters  against  the  "  lords 
of  the  world."     Their  principal  men  became  the  rulers  of  North  Scotland, 
taking  first  the  surname  of  Murray  and  afterwards  of  Sutherland  from  their 
particular  lands,   the  original  name  of  the   tribe  surviving   in  the    word 
Caithness.     Tacitus  described  them  in  their  fatherland  as  by  far  the  bravest, 
most  disciplined,  and  wisest  of  the  Germans.     As  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
the  section  of  the  Teutons  which  history  has  called  the  Danes,  and  at  an 
earlier   period   the   Saxons,    founders   of  the    Anglo-Saxon   kingdoms    of 
England.     Crantzius  traces  the  Saxons  to  the  Catti  as  ancestors,  while 
Mercator  and  Carion  make  the  landgraviate  of  Hesse,  a  word  which  is  the 
synonym   for   Catti,   the   homeland  of  the    tribe.     Sharon  Turner   in    his 
"  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons "   places   the  Catti   on   the  shores  of  the 
German  Ocean  between  the  rivers  Ems  and  Weser,  but  there  is  little  doubt 
that  they  extended  widely  on  all  sides  of  what  is  now  the  great  city  of 
Hamburg  on  the  river  Elbe.     That  lowland  shore  is  the  cradle  of  all  that 
has  been  greatest  in  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  American  history.     The 
Emperor  Augustus  fought  there  with  the  Catti,  and  his  son-in-law  Drusus 
rivalled  the  second  Caesar  in  his  conquests,  reaching  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe. 
Tiberius  also  sought  laurels  in  the  same  distant  scenes,  though  with  less 
success.     But  Germanicus  the  son  of  Drusus  repeated  his  father's  triumphs, 
extirpation  his  watchword.     In  particular,  he  sent  Coecina  to  destroy  the 
Catti.     "  His  arrival,"  says  Tacitus,  "  was  so  little  expected  by  the  Catti, 
that  their  women  and  children  were  immediately  taken  prisoners  or  put  to 
the  sword,  Mattium  the  capital  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  open  plains 
were  laid  waste."     Scandinavian  incidents,  as  told  by  Snorro  and  Torfaeus, 
illustrate  the  ease  of  setting  fire  to  houses  chiefly  of  wood  then  as  now. 
Armine  was  the  native  hero  contending  against  those  conquerors  who  gave 
no   quarter.     Germanicus  was  recalled  by   Tiberius  in   a.d.  17,  and  the 
Roman  arms  never  reached  the  Elbe  again,  though  fighting  continued  in 
the  southern  parts  of  Germany.     The  Catti  or  Saxons   learnt   from   the 
Romans  the  building  of  ships,  and  they  were  known  to  the  Scottish  shores 
even  before  their  arrival  in  the  Tay.     That  they  increased  greatly  in  power, 
as   a   confederation   of  Teutons,    is    locally   illustrated   by   the   fact   that 


EVENTS.  3 

Theodosius,  who  gained  the  surname  of  Saxonicus  from  his  success,  fought 
many  battles  by  land  and  sea  with  them  in  the  Orkneys,  especially  from 
A.D.  368  to  370.  Claudian  the  poet's  famous  words  refer  to  this, 
Maduerunt  Saxone  faso  Orcades.  That  the  Orkneys  could  be  bespattered 
with  Saxon  or  Cattian  blood,  implies  that  the  Germans  were  then  the 
rulers  of  North  Scotland. 

But  the  conclusion  must  not  be  run  to  that  they  composed  most,  or 
even  a  large  part,  of  the  population  there.  Gibbon  in  his  "  Decline  and 
Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  chapter  xxv.,  after  discrediting  some  fabulous 
colonies,  continues,  "  The  present  age  is  satisfied  with  the  simple  and 
rational  opinion  that  the  islands  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  were 
gradually  peopled  from  the  adjacent  continent  of  Gaul.  From  the  coast  of 
Kent  to  the  extremity  of  Caithness  and  Ulster,  the  memory  of  a  Celtic 
origin  was  distinctly  preserved  in  the  perpetual  resemblance  of  language,  of 
religion,  and  of  manners."  He  thinks  the  Scots  were  the  men  of  the  hills, 
and  the  Picts  those  of  the  plains.  The  latter  had  the  name  from  the 
carnivorous  highlanders  of  cruitnich  or  wheat-eaters,  being  agricultural, 
Aberdeenshire  retaining  most  marks  of  them.  These  sections  of  Celts  were 
thetrue  aborigines  or  natives,  and  their  subterranean  houses,  called  tumuli 
or  tullochs,  attest  to  this  day  their  low  civilization  and  meagre  economies. 
The  Kimmerians,  whom  the  Roman  consul  Marius  overthrew  B.C.  102,  the 
earliest  Celts  known  to  European  history,  dwelt,  Strabo  and  Ephorus  said, 
in  subterraneous  dwellings  called  argillas,  communicating  by  trenches ;  and 
in  the  British,  Welsh,  or  Cymry  language  argel  is  a  "  covert."  Burrowing 
in  imitation  of  rabbits  was,  next  to  cave  dwelling,  the  most  primitive 
condition  of  human  existence. 

Over  savages  authentically  cannibal  by  the  evidence  of  Jerom.  vol.  ii., 
p.  75,  which  Gibbon  accepts  as  veracious,  it  was  good  policy  for  a  king  of 
Scotland  to  place  comparatively  civilized  leaders  and  governors  like  the 
Catti,  who  have  long  since  amalgamated  with  the  original  Picts,  as  they 
were,  in  Caithness  and  the  Orkneys.  Claudian  says  that  Theodosius 
"  warmed  Thule  [or  Shetland]  with  the  blood  of  the  Picts  ; "  and  Pacatus 
states  that  the  Saxons  were  "  consumed  in  naval  wars  "  at  the  same  time ; 
so  that  the  combination  of  the  Catti  with  the  Picts,  or  Saxon  with  Celt, 


4  CAITHNESS 

is  clear,  as  against  the  Romans,  in  that  fourth  century.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth  century  the  Picts  and  Scots  together  attacked  South  Britain,  on 
the  Romans  withdrawing  to  defend  themselves  against  Alaric,  King  of  the 
Goths.  The  Latinized  and  civilized  Britons  defended  themselves  as  well  as 
they  could  from  410  till  449,  when  they  employed  Hengist  and  Horsa,  who 
had  arrived  with  three  Saxon  cyules  or  vessels  in  Kent.  These  leaders 
effectually  stopped  the  Irish  (as  the  Scots  are  called  by  Turner)  and  the 
Picts,  not  improbably  the  heads  of  the  northerns  being  also  Saxon  Danes, 
Greek  thus  meeting  Greek.  The  chiefs  of  clans  have  long  been  considered 
of  Norse  origin,  from  their  tall  stature,  light  colour  of  eyes  and  hair,  with 
other  physical  and  mental  peculiarities  not  Celtic.  Mixture  of  race  was 
and  is,  however,  an  omnipresent  fact  in  all  parts  of  this  kingdom.  Till 
Kenneth  the  Second's  reign,  the  son  of  Alpin,  North  Scotland  was  under 
the  Catti  rulers,  who  had  become  Picts  to  all  intents  and  purposes  by  blood 
and  language,  much  as  Englishmen  have  been  transformed  into  Irishmen. 
His  reign  covers  from  a.d.  834  to  854.  In  839  the  great  struggle  for 
supremacy  between  the  two  Celtic  communities  of  Scotland  was  bloodily 
settled  in  favour  of  the  Scots ;  the  Picts,  as  for  as  Orkney  and  Shetland, 
thoroughly  subdued.  Kenneth  Macalpin  ruled  from  Hadrian's  wall  to  the 
Orkneys,  according  to  George  Buchanan  the  historian.  But  new 
expeditions  of  the  Danes  or  Catti  made  the  conquest  of  no  value,  the 
Scandinavians  gradually  re-occupying  the  whole  of  the  islands  and  much  of 
the  mainland  of  Scotland,  till  1263,  when  the  defeat  and  death  of  King 
Hacon  of  Norway  and  the  accession  of  his  son  King  Magnus  gave  back 
some  power  again  to  the  Scottish  kings,  though  under  tribute  and  homage. 
What  the  Catti  were,  how  they  governed  Caithness,  and  for  what  time, 
can  be  gathered  from  such  considerations  to  some  true  historical  extent. 

One  of  the  most  striking  rounds  of  the  wheel  of  life  is  to  be  seen  in 
the  fact  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Sinclair  Earls  of  Caithness,  when  they 
were  Earls  or  Princes  of  Orkney  and  Barons  of  Roslin  Castle,  Edinburgh, 
were  also  Dukes  of  Oldenburg  in  Westphalia,  the  exact  homeland  of  the 
adventurous  Catti.  The  duchy  is  now  a  part  of  the  German  empire,  but 
in  these  Sinclairs'  time  belonged  to  Denmark,  the  principality  acquired  by 
them  through  a  marriage  with  the  Princess  Florentia,  daughter  of  the  king 


EVENTS.  5 

of  that  country.  On  the  Continent  a  duke  is  not,  as  here,  a  noble  merely, 
but  a  crowned  sovereign.  One  of  these  Dukes  of  Oldenburg  was  Prince 
Henry  Sinclair,  who  was  installed  in  the  principality  of  the  Orkneys  and 
Shctlands  in  13/9,  by  Haquin,  King  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  in  succession 
to  his  father  and  grandfather,  and  was  the  accepted  second  person  of  those 
kingdoms.  Henry  is  now  known  to  have  been  the  first  civilized  discoverer 
of  America,  about  1390,  a  century  in  anticipation  of  Columbus,  some  of 
the  true  Catti  in  his  sea  company.  Of  his  standing  as  Prince  of  Orkney 
there  is  a  curious  but  absolute  proof  in  Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire."  Martin  V.  was  elected  pope  in  1417,  three  years 
before  Henry  died  in  grand  old  age,  by  the  five  nations  of  Christendom. 
France  maintained  that  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  etc.,  ought  not  to  be 
counted  one  of  the  five,  but  the  learned  priests  of  Britain  argued  with 
success  at  Rome  the  right  to  equality.  Their  chief  argument,  to  quote 
Gibbon,  was  that  "  including  England,  Scotland,  Wales,  the  four  kingdoms 
of  Ireland,  and  the  Orkneys,  the  British  islands  are  decorated  with  eight 
royal  crowns."  The  then  ruler  of  the  Saxon  Catti  in  Oldenburg  thus  wore 
a  second  crown  for  the  Orkneys.  As  these  German  Danes  were  the 
founders  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polities,  their  intimate  relationships  with 
Caithness  have  not  only  local  but  universal  importance. 

In  William  Guthrie's  "State  of  the  World,"  14th  edition,  1794,  it  is 
said,  under  the  heading,  "  His  Danish  Majesty's  German  Dominions,"  that 
"in  Westphalia  the  King  of  Denmark  has  the  counties  of  Oldenburg 
[population  then  80,000]  and  Delmenhorst  [near  Bremen],  about  2000 
square  miles.  They  lie  on  the  south  side  of  the  Weser.  Their  capitals  have 
the  same  name.  The  first  has  the  remains  of  a  fortification  and  the  last  is 
an  open  place.  Oldenburg  gave  a  title  to  the  first  royal  ancestor  of  his 
present  Danish  majesty.  The  country  abounds  with  marshes  and  heaths, 
but  its  horses  are  the  best  in  Germany."  Christian  VII.,  born  in  1749, 
was  the  reigning  king  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  married  to  Carolina 
Matilda,  the  unfortunate  sister  of  his  Britannic  majesty  George  III.  There 
is  a  famous  silver  antique  drinking  vessel  in  the  Royal  Museum  at  Copen- 
hagen, weighing  about  four  pounds,  called  Cornu  Oldenburgicum,  "the 
Oldenburg  horn,"  which  tradition  says  "  was  presented  to  Otho  I.,  Duke  of 


6  CAITHXESS  EVENTS. 

Oldenburg,  by  a  ghost.  Some,  however,  are  of  opinion  that  this  vessel  was 
made  by  order  of  Christian  I.,  King  of  Denmark,  the  first  of  the  Oldenburg 
race,  who  reigned  in  1448."  Torfeeus  the  historian  dedicated  his 
"Orcades"  to  his  patron  Christian  V.  in  1697,  whom  he  described  as  King 
of  Denmark,  Norway,  of  the  Vandals  and  the  Goths,  Duke  of  Sleswick, 
Holsatia,  Stormaria,  and  Ditmersch  (districts  near  Hamburg),  and  "Earl  in 
Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst,"  so  that  the  last  two  had  reverted  from  the 
Sinclairs  to  the  the  Danish  royal  family. 

Captain  Kennedy,  it  will  be  seen  later,  refers  to  the  Oldenburg  and 
Delmenhorst  duchy  being  held  by  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Earl  of  the 
Catti.  William  Sinclair,  the  famous  Earl  of  Orkney,  Chancellor  of  Scotland, 
and  the  first  Earl  of  Caithness  of  the  surname,  created  so  in  1455,  was  the 
last  Duke  of  Oldenburg.  King  James  III.  of  Scotland,  who  reigned  from 
1460  to  1488,  married  Margaret,  Princess  of  Denmark;  and  by  purchase, 
exchange,  pensioning,  and  other  means  transferred  from  William  all  his 
Norwegian  rights ;  a  process  which  had  been  also  going  on,  especially  with 
reference  to  Orkney  and  Shetland,  during  the  reign  of  the  king's  father, 
James  II.  William's  daughter,  Lady  Catherine,  was  married  to  James  the 
Third's  brother,  Alexander,  Duke  of  Albany  ;  and  this  family  connection 
must  have  aided  the  royal  purposes  of  Denmark  and  Scotland. 

Enough,  however,  of  digression  from  the  MS.,  though  few  productions, 
in  spite  of  essential  value,  need  more  of  amplification  and  of  bringing  up 
to  the  modern  mark  of  accuracy,  founded  on  available  histories,  records,  and 
other  staple  evidence.  Of  this  the  next  chapter  affords  a  notable  example, 
the  captain's  limited  means  of  knowledge  more  than  an  excuse  for  his 
artless  honest  errors. 


CHAPTER    II, 

A    BISHOP'S    DEATH. 

"  The  Harolds  and  their  successors  of  Danish  or  Norwegian 
descent  were  possessed  of  the  lowlands  of  the  county  long  after 
a  regular  and  permanent  church  establishment  had  taken  place 
in  Scotland,  of  which  the  following  tale  is  illustrative.  The 
Bishop  of  Caithness  having  by  many  and  repeated  acts  of  great 
oppression  incurred  the  general  odium  of  the  inhabitants  of  his 
diocese,  they  applied  for  redress  to  the  Earl.  He,  either  not 
inclined  to  give  himself  much  trouble  in  the  matter,  or  perhaps 
unwilling  to  come  to  any  rupture  with  the  church,  told  the 
complainers  that  he  would  take  no  concern  in  anything  that 
related  to  their  Bishop,  and  they  might  boil  him  if  they  pleased. 
Glad  at  having  thus  obtained  what  they  were  willing  to  con- 
struct  into  a  sanction  for  signal  vengeance,  which  they  meditated 
against  the  Bishop,  the  ferocious  and  infuriated  populace  pro- 
ceeded immediately,  in  a  body,  towards  the  episcopal  palace 
at  Scrabster,  near  Thurso,  the  Bishop's  ordinary  residence. 
Having  learned,  however,  on  their  way  that  he  had  gone  to 
Wick  some  days  before,  on  a  visit  to  the  Vicar,  who  lived  there, 
they  turned  back  and  proceeded  thither.  The  Bishop,  who 
was  on  the  road  homewards  riding  through.   Sibster  attended 


8  CAITHNESS 

only  by  his  servant,  observed  this  disorderly  troop  coming 
forward  to  meet  him.  He  instantly  rode  off  full  speed  to  the 
right,  towards  a  place  since  called  Kilmster,  or  (  kill  minister/ 
thinking  by  changing  his  course  to  have  avoided  meeting  this 
band  of  desperadoes.  They,  however,  having  observed  and 
pursued  him,  he  alighted  from  his  horse  at  a  farm  house,  and  to 
save  his  life,  which  he  knew  was  aimed  at,  took  shelter  in  a 
kind  of  hiding  hole  with  which  most  houses  in  those  clays  were 
provided.  It  is  still,  or  was  very  lately,  to  be  seen  communi- 
cating from  the  house  to  the  corn-vard,  under  which  it  extended 
for  a  considerable  distance.  Here  his  savage  pursuers  detected 
him  and  killed  him,  cutting  his  body  in  pieces,  and  boiling  it, 
thus  carrying  the  hint  dropped  by  the  Earl  into  execution  to 
the  letter. 

"  The  barbarous  murder  thus  committed  on  a  person  of  such 
high  dignity  in  the  church,  stirred  up,  as  may  very  naturally 
be  supposed,  the  whole  clergy  of  the  kingdom  to  bring  their 
complaints  to  the  foot  of  the  throne,  and  to  insist  on  the  most 
exemplary  and  condign  punishment  being  inflicted  on  all  the 
perpetrators  and  abettors  of  so  horrid  and  sacrilegious  an  out- 
rage. Many  disorders  also  having  about  that  time  taken  place 
in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  but  more  especially  in  the 
north  as  being  farthest  removed  from  the  scale  of  justice,  King 
William  the  Lion  [who  reigned  from  1165  to  1214]  found  it 
had  become  necessary  to  make  a  personal  progress  into  those 
distant  parts,  for  the  punishment  of  the  guilty  and  restoration 
of  order  among  his  subjects.  Accordingly,  having  collected  a 
sufficient  force,  he  commenced  his  journey,  redressing  grievances 


EVENTS.  9 

and  punishing  offenders  and  rebels  on  his  way  north,  till  he  at 
last  arrived  at  the  extremity  of  the  kingdom.  Having  reached 
Caithness  a.d.  1198,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Wick,  and 
directed  all  the  Harold  connection  to  be  convened  before  him 
on  a  certain  day  at  Kilmster.  On  a  strict  inquiry  into  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  bishop's  death,  they  were  condemned  to 
the  worst  form  of  personal  mutilation,  the  sentence  executed  at 
once  on  the  spot.  As  further  penance  and  atonement,  they 
were  ordained  to  build  a  steeple  to  the  church  of  Wick.  The 
field  in  Kilmster  where  the  trial  was  held  and  these  bloody 
transactions  took  place  is  to  this  day  called  the  King's  Field  or 
King's  Stead.  It  adjoins  the  farm  house.  The  steeple  of  Wick 
was  built  by  the  punished  Harold  party,  and  continued  standing 
till  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Having  fallen  into 
decay,  the  rain  penetrating  many  parts  of  the  building,  it  gave 
way  at  the  foundation  on  a  Sunday  morning,  tumbling  with  a 
tremendous  crash  to  the  west.  The  bell,  which  was  of  very 
fine  tone  and  long  used  thereafter  by  the  church,  came  to  the 
ground  on  the  outside  of  the  churchyard,  without  sustaining 
any  material  damage.  A  small  bit  was  broken  out  of  the  lip  of 
it,  which  injured  the  sound  little  or  nothing.  On  building  a 
new  church  lately,  this  bell  was  exchanged  for  another,  not 
nearly  so  good,  though  of  much  larger  dimensions.  Effectual 
and  radical  measures,  as  above,  were  taken  for  extinguishing 
the  Harold  race." 


The  want  of  record  references,  and  also  of  the  ordinary  historical 
books,  is  manifest  in  Captain  Kennedy's  narrative ;  but,  none  the  less,  he 


10  CAITHNESS 

has  added  strange  details  of  some  transactions  of  the  past.  It  seems  that 
another  bishop  still  of  Caithness  must  be  added  to  the  two  already  known 
to  have  been  killed  by  violence,  and  that  the  scene  of  the  death  was  a  few 
miles  from  Wick  as  described,  the  connection  with  steeple-building  sugges- 
tively corroborative.  Tradition  may  possibly  have  mangled  established 
history  to  its  own  impressions,  and  the  "kill-minister"  theory  is  not 
reassuring,  Kilmster  meaning  "  church  glebe."  After  stating  what  is  known 
of  murdered  bishops,  some  judgment  may  be  arrived  at  as  to  whether  the 
Kilmster  tale  had  footing. 

George  Buchanan  in  his  "  History  of  Scotland,"  book  vii.,  cap.  49,  says 
that  a  rumour  of  the  death  of  King  William  the  Lion  had  raised  commotions, 
and  "  Harold,  Earl  of  Orkney  and  Caithness,  enraged  with  the  Bishop  of 
Caithness  because  he  believed  that  the  prelate  had  been  decrying  some  of 
his  demands  from  the  king,  seized  him  and  deprived  him  of  his  eyes  and 
tongue.  The  king  destroyed  most  of  the  forces  of  Earl  Harold  in  several 
battles.  He  hanged  by  his  executioner  their  leader,  after  putting  out  his 
eyes,  having  been  taken  in  flight,  and  all  his  male  offspring  he  gave  over  to 
be  emasculated.  He  fined  in  great  sums  of  money  the  relatives  and 
committers  of  the  crimes.  These  things  arc  narrated  by  Boethius,  and 
confirmed  by  common  report.  A  hill  preserves  the  memory  of  the  trans- 
actions, by  taking  its  name  from  the  emasculation."  The  date  he  gives  is 
1199,  which  practically  is  the  same  as  Kennedy's.  Another  quotation  from 
Buchanan  proves  mixing  of  events  by  the  manuscript : — "In  the  year  1222, 
the  Caithnessians  having  entered  the  sleeping-chamber  of  Adam  their 
bishop,  slew  by  night  his  chamber-servant,  a  monk,  whom  he  had  as 
companion,  according  to  his  manner,  for  he  had  formerly  been  Abbot  of 
Melrose.  They  burnt  himself,  grievously  wounded  and  dragged  into  the 
kitchen.  The  Avhole  house  they  set  in  flames.  It  is  said  that  the  reason  of 
such  cruelty  was  that  the  bishop  exacted  tithes  more  oppressively  than 
usual.  The  perpetrators  being  sought  after  diligently,  were  subjected  to 
the  heaviest  punishments.  The  Earl  of  Caithness,  though  he  was  not 
present  at  the  deed,  was  suspected  of  connivance.  Afterwards,  however, 
at  a  Christmas  feast  he  obtained  an  assurance  of  safety  from  the  suspicion 
at  the  king's  hands." 


EVENTS.  11 

In  section  viii.  of  "  The  Genealogy  of  the  Earls  of  Sutherland  "  there  is 
what  seems  to  be  a  paraphrasing  of  Bocthius  thus : — "  Harold,  surnamed 
Chisholm  or  Guthred,  the  Thane  of  Caithness,  accompanied  with  a  number 
of  scapethrifts  and  rebels,  as  the  history  calls  them,  began  to  exercise  all 
kinds  of  misdemeanours  and  outrages,  which  savage  people  incensed  by 
want  and  hatred  ordinarily  do,  invading  the  poor  and  simple  with  cruel 
spoilings  and  slaughters.  These  rebels  having  ranged  and  raged  through 
Caithness,  and  not  satisfied  with  what  they  had  done  there,  turned  to 
Sutherland.  Earl  Hugh  nicknamed  Frcskin  defended,  whereupon  Harold 
returned  to  Caithness.  Offended  with  John,  Bishop  of  Caithness,  for 
asserting  the  liberties  of  the  church  and  for  preventing  him  from  obtaining 
portions  of  the  bishopric  which  he  had  asked  from  the  king,  Harold  seized 
Bishop  John,  pulled  out  his  tongue  and  his  eyes,  and  then  killed  him  most 
inhumanly  and  cruelly.  King  William  coming  out  of  England  a.d.  1198? 
and  hearing  of  this  barbarous  fact,  pursued  Harold  with  his  accomplices  to 
Duncansbay,  and  apprehended  them.  He  commanded  exact  or  talion 
justice  to  be  done."  Harold  had  the  corresponding  retaliations  to  suffer, 
and  was  publicly  hanged  thereafter.  Sir  Robert  Gordon  repeats  the  tale  of 
Boethius  about  the  extinction  of  the  whole  Harold  lineage,  with  the  left- 
hand  unsatisfactory  evidence  of  the  hill's  name,  where  the  unspeakable 
mutilations  are  supposed  to  have  been  executed.  Bishop  Adam,  who 
wrote  several  books,  succeeded  Bishop  John,  Pope  Honorius  III.  confirming 
his  bishopric  in  1218.  He  was  murdered  in  1222.  "The  inhabitants  of 
Caithness,"  says  Gordon,  "conducted  by  the  sons  of  Simon  Harbister, 
nothing  daunted  by  the  late  exemplary  punishment,  at  the  command  of 
Magnus,  their  earl,  entered  the  chamber  of  Bishop  Adam  in  the  town  of 
Hackrick  in  Caithness,  under  silence  of  night,  because  he  had  excommuni- 
cated them  for  not  paying  their  tithes.  First  they  murdered  a  monk  who 
was  his  companion.  Then  they  haled  and  drew  the  bishop  by  the  hair 
down  to  his  kitchen,  and  there  scourged  him  with  sticks.  Last  of  all  they 
put  fire  to  the  house,  and  burnt  the  bishop  in  it.  King  Alexander  II.  who 
was  at  Jedburgh,  hearing  of  the  execrable  fact,  hastened  north  into 
Caithness  with  all  speed  to  punish  the  offenders.  After  great  search  they 
were  found  and  taken,  to  the  number  of  400,  whom  the  king  had  publicly 


12  CAITHNESS 

hanged.  The  whole  lineage  were  mutilated,  a  strange  kind  of  punishment 
twice  inflicted  upon  the  inhabitants.  The  eaii  having  escaped  was 
forfeited  of  land  and  dignity,  but  he  came  humbly  to  the  king  the  third 
year  after,  1225,  on  Christmas  festivity,  and  was  pardoned."  Sir  Robert  in 
his  sanctimonious  prejudiced  vein  continues,  "  This  Magnus,  Thane  or  Earl 
of  Caithness,  was  slain  as  he  lay  in  bed  by  his  own  servants,  whom  he 
had  oppressed  and  roughly  treated.  The  house  also  wherein  he  was  killed 
was  set  on  fire  and  burnt  over  him,  that  the  fact  might  seem  to  have 
chanced  by  some  sudden  adventure."  Then  he  moralises  about  the  pardon 
of  man  not  being  sufficient. 

Sir  Robert's  colour  to  these  events  is  only  to  be  rightly  seen  by 
examining  his  lying  "Short  Discourse,"  written  in  1630,  magnifying  the 
Gordons  and  trying  to  belittle  the  Sinclairs.  He  begins  by  quoting  himself 
as  above,  adding  that  Harold  was  the  son  of  Mac-William,  and  then  he 
abridges  the  narrative  about  Bishop  Adam's  slaughter,  stating  gratuitously 
that  Magnus,  whom  he  takes  care  to  call  thane  as  if  in  depreciation,  was 
used  by  his  servants  "after  the  same  manner  that  he  had  caused  the 
bishop  to  be  used."  His  object  was  to  prevent  his  contemporary,  George, 
fifth  Sinclair  carl  of  Caithness,  from  claiming  precedency  over  the  earls  of 
Sutherland  by  descent,  male  or  female,  from  Earl  Harold  or  Earl  Magnus. 
The  humour  of  the  situation  is  that  the  Gordons  as  earls  of  Sutherland 
were  only  from  1515,  and  that  they  are  believed  to  have  been  usurpers  of 
the  rights  of  the  original  Sutherlands,  first  in  the  person  of  Adam  Gordon 
of  Aboyne.  Impostors  are  always  impudent,  and  Sir  Robert's  theories 
attest  the  saying. 

Torfaeus  has  carefully  detailed,  especially  from  Norse  sources,  the 
stories  of  the  two  bishops ;  and,  on  the  whole,  he  is  the  best  authority, 
though  writing  as  late  as  1697.  After  describing  the  battle  between  the 
two  Harolds  in  1196,  around  what  is  now  called  Harold's  Tower,  near 
Thurso,  where  the  slain  rival  was  buried ;  the  expedition  of  Reginald,  Lord 
of  the  Isles,  by  royal  command  against  the  conquering  Harold,  who  was 
born  in  1134;  an  establishing  of  six  Scottish  prefects  over  Caithness  for 
King  William  the  Lion,  in  other  words,  for  the  crown ;  the  historian 
recounts  the  re-appearance  of  Earl  Harold  from  Orkney  with  a  huge  army 


EVENTS.  13 

before  Thurso,  to  recover  what  he  believed  was  his  county,  partly  as 
belonging  to  the  Norwegian  kingdom,  then  quite  an  intelligent  position  to 
assume.  Besides,  the  two  Harolds  were  relatives,  and  rivals  on  that  score  ; 
King  William  having  really  no  right  to  the  annexation  of  the  lands  and 
returns.  The  people  of  Thurso  had  been  leaving  their  original  Norse 
sympathies,  and  going  over  to  the  Scotch,  to  the  disgust  of  Earl  Harold, 
who  though  his  father  was  Maddad,  Earl  of  Athole,  had  northern  rights 
from  his  mother  Margaret,  the  Countess  of  that  Perthshire  earldom,  half- 
sister  of  Earl  Paul  of  Orkney  and  Shetland.  When  Earl  Harold  arrived  in 
the  bay  of  Thurso  the  townspeople  were  panic-stricken,  and  on  his  landing 
his  troops,  sent  John,  Bishop  of  Caithness,  from  the  Palace  of  Scrabster  in 
the  neighbourhood,  to  pacify  him  and  obtain  pardon  for  the  town. 
"  When,"  says  Torfaeus,  "  with  a  great  attack  the  whole  troops  rushed  out 
of  the  ships  into  the  town,  the  bishop  coming  in  front,  the  earl  received 
him  with  mocking  speech  and  laughter,  and  ordered  him  to  be  seized,  and 
to  be  deprived  of  his  tongue  and  eyes."  It  is  not  possible  to  avoid 
believing  that  the  bishop  had  been  active  in  the  Scottish  interest.  Thurso 
surrendered,  some  were  heavily  punished,  others  fined,  and  the  county,  of 
which  this  was  then  the  town,  compelled  to  swear  loyalty.  The  goods  of 
the  six  king's  prefects  were  confiscated,  who  fled  to  the  court  with 
complaints,  the  king  promising  to  reinstate  them  double,  with  all  speed. 
Soldiers  were  levied  over  Scotland,  and  King  William  the  Lion, 
accompanied  by  the  prefects,  led  a  large  army  to  the  north,  to  oust  Earl 
Harold.  A  huge  encampment  was  made  in  the  valley  which  lies  between 
Sutherland  and  Caithness,  now  called  Ousdale.  The  site  of  the  camp 
extended  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  vale,  so  numerous  were  the 
troops.  Earl  Harold,  though  he  collected  7,200  men  to  oppose,  gave  up 
the  attempt  as  hopeless  against  such  a  force,  and  sued  for  peace.  After 
negotiations  and  Harold's  consultation  with  the  Caithness  people,  it  was 
granted,  on  the  condition  of  paying  into  the  royal  treasury  one -fourth  of  all 
the  goods  of  the  county,  as  a  fine  for  the  death  of  the  bishop,  whom 
Torfaeus,  however,  did  "not  believe  to  have  been  slain  by  Earl  Harold,  as 
other  historians  say.  The  king  accepted  Harold  as  earl  of  Caithness 
exactly  on  the  same  footing  held  by  the  younger  slain  Earl  Harold. 


14  CAITHNESS 

In  Rymer's  "  Foedera "  there  is  a  note  that  when  Edward  I.  of 
England's  commissioner  examined  the  registers  of  the  king's  treasury  of 
Scotland  in  1282,  one  of  the  documents  was  "a  quit -claim  of  the  lands  of 
the  bonders  of  Caithness  for  the  slaughter  of  the  bishop."  The  Norse 
word  bonders  for  farmers  implies  the  earlier  periods ;  but  it  is  possible  that 
this  is  the  slaughter  of  Bishop  Adam  in  1222,  and  not  of  Bishop  John  in 
1198  ;  though  the  fact  that  Earl  Harold  had  the  Caithness  bonders  bound 
to  pay  the  royal  fourth,  as  above,  nearly  settles  the  point  of  the  violent 
death  of  John  against  the  impression  of  Torfaeus,  even  if  his  acuteness  is 
seldom  at  fault. 

Of  his  usual  wisdom  no  better  example  can  be  brought  forward  than 
his  treatment  of  the  emasculation  story,  so  gloated  over  for  selfish  purposes 
by  Sir  Robert  Gordon.  He  urges  that  the  contemporary  Norse  writer  from 
whom  he  himself  narrates  says  not  a  word  of  it.  If  he  had  known  of  it 
Torfaeus  thinks  he  would  not  have  omitted  it,  and  that  author  is  plainly 
silent.  A  Danish  word  eista  is  given  as  the  origin  of  the  falsehood. 
Ousdale  was  then  known  as  Eysteindale,  and  a  hill  on  the  side  of  its  valley 
Eystein  Hill ;  hence  a  double  and  most  erroneous  meaning,  not  to  say 
detestable.  Eystein  is  the  same  as  the  well-known  personal  name 
Augustine  ;  and  Augustine's  Hill  is  the  full  for  Sir  Robert  Gordon's  Stony 
Hill.  Nothing  is  more  borne  in  on  one  than  that,  with  close  study  of 
history,  and  especially  of  its  record  and  original  monuments,  very 
hideous  atrocities  become  fictional,  grounded  on  some  accident  of  words,  or 
on  mere  invention,  to  satisfy  love  of  wonders.  That  a  civilised  monarch  like 
William  the  Lion,  fresh  from  the  court  of  England,  surrounded  by  the 
learned  priests  and  gallant  nobility  of  Scotland,  could  in  the  face  of  Europe, 
and  Christian  Europe  as  represented  by  the  pope,  order  corporal  mutilation 
of  the  primitive  savage  kind,  is  impossible  to  believe.  Boethius  is  the  first 
author  of  the  tale,  and  Robertson  and  all  others  who  read  him  for  historic 
purposes  admit  his  credulity  to  have  been  notorious.  Posterity  was 
deceived,  Torfaeus  contends,  by  likeness  of  words ;  for  the  valley  where 
the  king  measured  out  his  camp  gave  the  Eystein  or  eista  name  to  the 
neighbouring  hill.  It  is  well  to  be  rid  of  this  nightmare  from  Caithness 
history,  and  gratitude  to  Torfaeus  is  more  than  due  for  finally  giving  the 


EVENTS.  15 

last  blow  to  an  infamous  libel,  not  only  on  the  county  but  on  a  gallant 
king. 

It  would  be  rash  to  assume  that  no  deed  against  the  church,  in  the 
person  of  one  of  its  officials,  was  done  at  Kilmster ;  though  Ilackrick, 
meaning  Halkirk,  has  certainly  the  doubtful  honour  .of  being  the  scene  of 
boiling  one  bishop.  The  "  Codex  Flateyensis  "  is  used  by  Torfaeus  in  his 
"  Orcades  "  for  the  facts  of  this  incident.  After  the  death  of  John,  Bishop 
of  Caithness,  whom  Earl  Harold  deprived  of  eyes  and  tongue,  Bishop 
Adam  succeeded,  born  of  unknown  parents.  He  was  found  an  infant 
exposed  at  the  door  of  a  church.  His  unusual  rigour  in  exacting  tithes 
displeased  the  people.  The  fault,  however,  was  commonly  thrown  on  a 
monk,  his  chamberlain.  Custom  held  that  those  who  possessed  20  cows 
through  Caithness  paid  20  marks  of  butter.  He  ordered  the  same  from  15 
cows,  then  from  12,  and  lastly  10  ;  thus  doubling  the  tithes,  to  the  disgust 
of  the  folk.  They  appealed  to  Earl  John,  not  Magnus,  as  Gordon  says, 
who  refused  to  mix  himself  up  with  their  strife,  but  admitted  the  oppression. 
The  bishop  was  in  Hakyrkia,  whether  so-called  from  a  noted  church  or 
because  it  was  an  estate  of  the  church,  i.e.,  Thorsdale,  or  the  valley  of 
Thurso  river  ;  and  Rafn,  the  highest  judge  of  the  province,  was  his  guest. 
Earl  John  lived  near  in  Brawl  Castle.  On  a  hill  in  the  neighbourhood  the 
farmers  held  a  meeting,  and  sent  the  last  word  to  the  bishop.  Rafn,  the 
sheriff  of  that  time,  pointedly  advised  remission  of  the  latest  demands  of 
tithes,  but  the  bishop  said  the  mob  would  bridle  itself  soon,  sending  a 
message  meanwhile  for  soldiers  from  Earl  John  as  protection.  But  it  was 
too  late.  A  marshalled  band  attacked  the  house,  running  with  full  speed 
from  the  meeting  on  the  hill.  Rafn,  who  was  drinking  wine  with  the 
bishop  in  an  upper  room,  recommended  an  immediate  compromise.  The 
monk,  however,  going  out,  was  at  once  struck  across  the  face,  and  killed 
near  the  door.  When  the  bishop  was  told,  he  said  the  deed  ought  to  have 
been  done  sooner,  for  it  was  his  chamberlain  who  had  caused  discord 
between  him  and  his  people  ;  and  he  sent  a  message  of  reconciliation  to 
them  by  Rafn,  the  judge.  The  more  prudent  were  delighted  with  the 
proposal,  but  the  foolish,  prompted  by  ferocity,  seized  the  bishop  on  coming- 
out  to  make  peace,  led  him  into  a  small  house,  burnt  it  with  torches,  the 


16  CAITHNESS  EVENTS 

flame  so  sudden  that  those  running  to  his  help  were  powerless.  His  body 
was  found  little  burnt  in  the  house,  and  was  buried  with  much  ceremony, 
Alexander  II.,  son  of  William  the  Lion,  when  told  by  the  bishop's  friends, 
was  so  enraged  that  the  severity  of  the  punishments  exacted  will  never  go 
from  the  memory  of  man,  by  slaughters,  limbs  cut  off,  confiscation  of  goods, 
proscriptions,  and  banishments.  The  monk  was  named  Serlo,  and  had 
been  of  Melrose.  Of  the  double  martyrdom,  as  it  was  called  by  the  church, 
the  date  was  13th  September,  1222. 

Torfaeus  says  Boethius  and  Demster  repeat  the  emasculation  legend  in 
the  story  of  the  second  as  of  the  first  bishop  ;  so  that  it  was  evidently  a 
"  property,"  in  the  theatrical  sense  of  this  word,  as  the  starving  in  dungeons 
of  heirs  by  cruel  fathers  or  uncles  was  the  tale  of  scores  of  castles.  Honest 
and  learned  investigation  dissipates  most  of  such  unnatural  inventions  of 
the  horrible. 

In  the  fourth  chapter  of  Calcler's  "  History  of  Caithness,"  second 
edition,  1887,  there  is  a  popular  account  of  these  events  ;  pp.  136-7  of 
"  The  Gunns  "  notice  them  ;  and  the  "  Orkneyinga  Saga  "  may  be  also 
consulted.  Further  discussion  of  the  slain  bishops  will  come  at  a  later 
point  more  appropriately. 


CHAPTER    III. 
THE    CHEYNE    FAMILY. 

"  The  mountainous  or  highland  part  of  Caithness,  by  far  the 
most  extensive,  was  possessed  at  a  very  early  period  by  a  famous 
chieftain  called  Ronald  Cheyne,  while  the  northern  and  eastern 
portions  along  the  sea-shores  were  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Danish  or  Norwegian  Harolds,  also  at  the  same  time  earls  of 
Orkney.  Ronald  Cheyne  was  the  Nimrod  of  his  day,  and  built 
many  castles  or  seats  in  the  highlands  of  Caithness,  the  ruins 
of  which  are  still  visible,  to  which  he  occasionally  resorted  for 
the  convenience  of  hunting  and  fishing.  Among  others,  he  had 
a  castle  at  the  east  end  of  Loch  More,  where  the  river  of 
Thurso  issues  from  that  lake.  Here  he  had  a  chest  or  kind  of 
cruives  so  curiously  constructed  that,  as  the  current  of  the 
stream  was  made  to  run  through  the  chest,  when  a  salmon 
dropped  into  it,  his  fall  into  the  chest  occasioned  a  bell  to  ring 
within  the  house,  which  gave  instant  notice  to  the  chief  and  his 
attendants  that  their  provision  was  secured," 


Of  the  Cheynes  a  great  deal  is  extant,  not  the  least  problematical,  but 
supported  by  state  and  other  sufficient  record.  Like  the  Sinclairs,  they 
came  from  Normandy  to  England,  and  then  settled  in  Scotland.  Inverugie 
Castle,  Aberdeenshire,  was  their  home  before  coming  to  Caithness,  where 


18  CAITHNESS 

Oldwick  Castle  became  their  chief  residence,  considerable  ruins  of  which 
still  exist  near  the  modern  Pulteneytown.  Of  the  two  Ronald  Cheynes  it 
is  the  later,  the  last  of  his  line,  that  Captain  Kennedy  refers  to  as  of  county 
hunting  fame.  Sir  Robert  Gordon,  p.  54,  after  stating  that  he  lived  in  the 
time  of  William  Sutherland,  the  earl  who  died  at  Dunrobin  in  1370, 
continues  thus  : — "  Ronald  Cheyne,  a  Caithness  man,  was  during  his  time  a 
great  commander  in  that  country.  Of  him  many  fables  are  reported  among 
the  vulgar  sort  of  people,  and  chiefly  concerning  his  hunting,  in  which  he 
much  delighted.  Doubtless  the  Cheynes  had  at  one  time  many  possessions 
and  were  of  the  greatest  command  and  power  in  that  country,  but  they  were 
never  the  earls  of  it.  All  the  lands  belonging  to  this  Reginald  Cheyne 
were  divided  among  his  daughters,  which  disposition  was  ratified  by  the 
charter  of  confirmation  of  King  David  Bruce  [that  is,  David  II.,  who 
reigned  from  1329  to  1371].  One  of  Ronald  Cheyne's  daughters  was 
married  to  Nicholas  Sutherland,  Earl  William's  brother,  with  whom  he  had 
the  Cheynes'  third  part  of  the  lands  of  Caithness  and  the  third  part  of 
the  lands  of  Duffus  in  Morayshire,  becoming  thus  the  laird  of  Duffus, 
which  property  his  posterity  enjoys  to  this  day  [1630]."  On  page  140 
of  "  The  Gunns  "  there  is  the  knowledge  that  the  ruins  of  Ronald's  hunting 
lodge  at  Loch  More  were  used  to  build  a  bridge  there  over  the  Thurso 
150  years  ago;  and  that  the  nurse  who  secreted  his  two  daughters  from 
him,  lived  with  them  in  a  cottage  in  the  corrie  or  glen  on  the  east  of 
Dorrery  Hill. 

In  his  Introduction,  p.  xxv.,  Henderson  says,  "From  1290  to  1350  the 
Federiths,  a  Morayshire  [?]  family,  held  extensive  possessions  in  Caithness. 
How  these  were  acquired  does  not  appear.  Contemporary  with  them,  and 
allied  by  marriage,  were  the  Cheynes,  one  of  whom,  styled  in  charters 
Ronald,  Lord  Cheyne,  obtained  a  grant  from  William  Federith  of  Federith 
[Aberdeenshire]  of  a  fourth  part  of  Caithness,  which  was  confirmed  by 
David  the  Second.  The  possessions  of  the  Cheyne  family  were  scattered 
over  the  various  parishes  in  the  county;  and  on  the  death  of  Reginald 
Cheyne,  the  one  half  passed  to  the  Sutherland®,  afterwards  of  Duffus  or 
Dove-house,  through  the  marriage  of  one  of  his  two  daughters  and  heiresses 
to  Nicholas,  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Sutherland,  and  the  other  half  to  the 


EVENTS.  19 

Keiths,  afterwards  the  Earls-marshal  of  Scotland,  by  the  marriage  of  the 
other  daughter  to  John  Keith  of  Inverugie  about  1380."  He  adds  that  the 
Keiths  fell  heirs  thus  to  Ackergill  estates,  and  the  Sutlierlands  to  Oldwick 
Castle  and  Berriedale. 

The  Celtic  Magazine  of  1880-1  has  many  useful  details,  some  of  them 
from  Dr.  Skene's  "  Notes  on  the  Earldom  of  Caithness  "  in  the  F.S.  A.  Scot, 
prints.  Sir  Reginald  Cheyne  of  Inverugie  Castle  had  two  sons,  Reginald, 
Lord  Chamberlain  of  Scotland  in  1267,  and  Henry,  appointed  Bishop  of 
Aberdeen  in  1281.  Freskin  Murray  had  half  of  Caithness,  his  only  children 
Mary  and  Christina,  by  his  wife  Johanna,  who  died  before  1269 ;  and  the 
two  heiresses  had  therefore  a  fourth  each.  Mary  married  Sir  Reginald 
Cheyne  and  Christina  William  Federith.  By  some  arrangement  Federith 
and  his  wife  gave  their  fourth  to  Cheyne,  who  thus  secured  the  half  of  the 
county,  with  the  Castle  of  Oldwick  head  messuage. 

Nisbet  says  in  his  "  Heraldry "  that  Reginald  Cheyne,  father,  and 
Reginald  Cheyne,  son,  were  parties  with  the  rest  of  the  magnates  of 
Scotland  who  resolved  in  1283  that  Margaret,  "  the  fair  maid  of  Norway," 
was  their  queen.  Sir  Reginald  and  other  Cheynes  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I. 
of  England  in  1296,  Reginald  having  been  present  at  the  convention  of 
Brigham  in  1289.  In  the  Scottish  rolls  or  papers  long  kept  in  the  Tower, 
London,  and  now  in  the  Record  Offiee  there,  it  is  stated  that  King 
Edward  I.  gave  a  present  of  10  deer  to  Reginald  Cheyne,  the  father,  and  6 
to  Reginald,  the  son  ;  the  deed  of  gift  dated  Thirsk,  Yorkshire,  23rd 
August,  1291.  These  English  deer  may  be  represented  in  the  northern 
stock  of  to-day.  The  father  was  then  sheriff  of  Inverness,  the  sheriffdom 
reaching  to  Pentland  Firth,  and  in  1292  the  roll  of  his  accounts  in  that 
offiee  is  mentioned  as  produced.  When  arranging  the  government  of 
Scotland  in  1305,  Edward  I.  appointed  Sir  Reginald  one  of  the  justiciaries 
in  the  north  beyond  the  Grampian  mountains.  He  died  before  6th 
November,  1313,  leaving  his  properties  to  his  son  Reginald,  the  hero  of  the 
Kennedy  MS.,  and  the  last  of  the  males  of  his  branch.  He  was  a  warrior 
and  statesman  as  well  as  a  hunter.  Dr.  Burton  mentions  him  as  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  letter  to  the  pope  by  the  Scotch  nobility  from  Arbroath 
Abbey,  6th  April,  1320,  asking  favour  for  the  Bruce  dynasty.     At  the 


20  CAITHNESS 

battle  of  Halidon  Hill,  so  fatal  to  the  Scots,  he  was  taken  prisoner,  but 
soon  released.  He  married  a  Norsewoman,  and  had  two  daughters  only,  of 
whom  everyone  knows  the  romantic  story.  Educated  at  the  convent  of 
Murkle,  near  Thurso,  Marjory  married  in  1337  Nicholas,  brother  of  the  Earl 
of  Sutherland,  and  Mariotta  wedded  John  Keith.  The  last  Sir  Reginald 
was  called  in  Gaelic  Morar  na  Shean,  that  is,  Lord  Cheyne.  He  died  very 
old  about  1350,  and  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  of  Olgrimore,  Halkirk 
parish,  covered  with  sand  brought  by  his  wish  from  the  strand  of  beloved 
Loch  More,  "  the  big  lake." 

How  the  Cheynes  came  to  Caithness  is  indicated  by  the  following  from 
Robertson's  "  Index"  : — "  Charter  by  David  II.  to  Reginald  Cheyne  of  the 
fourth  part  of  Caithness,  in  the  county  of  Inverness,  given  by  William 
Federith  ; "  and  again,  "  Charter  by  King  David  II.  to  Marjory  Cheyne  of 
the  lands  of  Strath  brock,  Linlithgowshire,  and  half  of  Caithness." 

Rymer's  "  Foedera "  has  a  treaty  between  Scotland  and  Wales  by 
which  they  were  not  to  make  peace  with  the  English  king,  Henry  II., 
except  after  mutual  agreement.  It  is  written  in  Latin,  and  dated  18th 
March,  1258,  thirteen  Scotch  earls  and  lords  putting  their  signatures  and 
seals  to  it,  among  whom  were  Reginald  Cheyne  and  Freskin  Murray.  The 
Scotch  and  Welsh  meanwhile  were  to  have  free  trade  for  their  merchants. 
Rymer  has  also  the  full  text  of  the  obligation  of  1283  by  the  Scottish 
nobles,  referred  to  in  Nisbet's  "  Heraldry,"  to  make  the  Maiden  of  Norway, 
Margaret,  the  daughter  of  King  Eric  and  of  Margaret,  King  Alexander  the 
Third's  sister,  their  queen  ;  Reginald  Cheyne,  the  father,  and  Reginald 
Cheyne,  the  son,  among  the  signatures.  It  is  a  Latin  document,  dated 
Scone,  5th  February,  1283.  Both  the  Cheynes  signed  the  letter  of  the 
people  of  Scotland,  or  rather  of  their  earl  and  baron  representatives, 
consulting  Edward  the  First  of  England  as  to  a  marriage  between  his  son 
Edward  and  the  Maiden  of  Norway.  It  is  written  in  Norman-French,  and 
dated  Brigham,  the  nearest  day  after  St  Gregory's,  1289.  The  Maiden  was 
Queen  of  Scotland  from  1286,  though  absent  in  Norway.  At  the 
convention  at  Norham,  near  the  Borders,  when  King  Edward  I.  was 
deciding  between  the  claimants  to  the  Scottish  throne,  the  Cheynes,  father 
and  son,  were  electors  and  nominators  in  favour  of  John  Baliol,  who  was 


EVENTS.  21 

appointed  king.  The  two  Reginalds  are  so  mentioned  in  a  list  of  5th 
June,  1292. 

In  the  chartulary  of  Moray  appears,  "  Mary,  spouse  of  Reginald 
Cheyne,  lord  of  Duffus,  daughter  of  the  deceased  Freskin  Murray."  She  is 
the  supposed  mother  of  Reginald  jilius  or  fitz.  There  is,  however,  a 
document  in  the  "  Foedera  "  about  the  widows  of  Scotland  which  would  go 
to  show  that  the  senior  Reginald  was  married,  secondly,  to  Eustachia 
Colville,  and  she  may  have  been  the  great  hunter's  mother.  Translated 
from  Latin  it  runs,  "  The  king  to  the  sheriff  of  Ayr,  salvation.  Because 
Eustachia,  who  was  wife  of  the  deceased  Reginald  Cheyne,  is  at  our  peace, 
and  has  given  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  us,  we  order  you  that  if  it  is  clear  to 
you  that  the  said  Eustachia  was  wife  of  the  beforesaid  Reginald,  and  that 
the  same  Reginald  died  before  the  alliance  entered  into  and  contracted 
against  us  between  John  Baliol,  lately  King  of  Scotland,  and  the  King  of 
France  and  his  brother  Charles,  and  that  Eustachia  has  not  been  married 
afterwards  to  any  of  our  enemies,  then  the  lands  and  tenements  which 
Eustachia  held  before  the  confederacy,  as  well  those  in  dowry  as  those  of 
her  own  heredity,  in  the  beforesaid  kingdom  and  land,  up  to  the  day  in 
which  we  caused  those  lands  and  tenements  to  be  taken  into  our  hand,  you 
must  make  to  be  restored  and  delivered  without  delay  to  the  same 
Eustachia,  together  with  the  crops  on  those  lands  and  tenements.  The 
castles  and  fortalices  of  Eustachia,  if  she  has  such,  are,  however,  to  be 
retained  to  the  command  of  the  guardian  and  keeper  of  the  land  and 
kingdom  of  Scotland.  With  the  king  witness,  at  Berwick-on-Tweed,  3rd 
September,  1296."  This  king  was  Edward  I.,  the  "  hammer  of  the  Scots  ;  " 
and  he  sent  similar  letters  to  the  sheriffs  of  Banff,  Kincardine  in  Mearns, 
Forfar,  Aberdeen,  and  Inverness  in  favour  of  Eustachia,  who  had  estates  in 
all  those  sheriffdoms.  There  is  an  apt  notice  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  ninth  edition,  in  the  article  "  Heraldry,"  of  the  rich  relict : — 
"  Eustachia  Colville,  widow  of  Reginald  Cheyne  in  1316,  bore  a  cross 
moline,  square,  pierced  for  Colville,  between  four  crosslets  fitchy  for  Cheyne. " 
A  seal  gives  this  knowledge  of  the  Cheyne  arms.  Various  references  raise 
the  question  whether  there  were  not  three  Reginald  Cheynes  in  succession, 
a  common  enough  repetition  of  a  first  name  in  baronial  families. 

Edward   the   First's   orders   to   the   sheriffs   show   that,  though   the 


22  CAITHNESS 

Cheynes  swore  fealty  to  him  in  1292,  they  changed  sides,  and  had  their 
lands  consequently  confiscated,  the  restoration  to  the  widow  full  proof.  In 
a  charter  of  the  year  1336  by  Edward  III.  of  England,  Reginald  Cheyne 
and  William  Fcdcrith  are  described  as  that  king's  "  Scottish  enemies  ; "  but 
whether  this  hostility  may  not  point  to  an  earlier  date  is  a  problem,  the 
Bruce  dynasty  then  established  long  on  the  throne  by  the  war  of 
independence,  of  which  Bannockburn  battle  was  the  final  solution  in  1314. 
Consistency  in  patriotism  was  hardly  possible  at  all  for  the  nobles  during 
that  period  of  false  or  indefinite  rivalries  for  the  crown.  In  a  "  Calendar  of 
Documents  about  Scotland,"  the  originals  in  London  Record  Office,  several 
notices  help  to  show  the  changes.  On  19th  February,  1303-4,  peace  was 
notified  by  Edward  I.  to  Lord  Reginald  Cheyne  by  letter,  to  "  the  men  of 
Inverness,"  then  including  Caithness,  and  to  various  leaders.  When  Bruce 
was  getting  the  upper  hand,  Cheyne  was  still  on  the  side  of  the  English ; 
for  Edward  II.,  on  setting  out  for  Boulogne,  in  France,  addressed  messages, 
of  date  13th  and  14th  December,  1307,  to  the  clergy  and  nobles  of  Scotland, 
begging  the  former  to  keep  peace  there,  and  the  latter  to  be  obedient  to 
John  of  Brittany,  Earl  of  Richmond,  warden  or  guardian,  Reginald  Cheyne 
one  of  those  thus  called  to  duty.  On  May  30th,  1308,  Edward  II.,  from 
Westminster,  thanks  Reginald  Cheyne  and  ten  other  Scots  for  their  faithful 
service  to  him  and  his  father.  But  towards  the  end  of  that  year  most  of 
the  Scotch,  if  not  all,  swore  fidelity  to  King  Robert  the  Bruce. 

It?  is  easy  to  list  the  Caithness  lands  of  the  Cheynes,  through  the 
accounts  in  state  records  of  their  subsequent  possession  by  Lord  Oli pliant 
and  the  Sinclair  earls.  They  had  portions  or  all  of  Sibster-Brawl, 
Greystone,  Assery,  Claredon,  Borland-Murkle,  Sordale,  Aimster,  Ormlie, 
Thurdistoft,  Sibmister,  salmon-fishing  of  Thurso  river,  Shurrery,  Brawlbin, 
Skaill,  Borrowston,  Lybster,  Stangergill,  East  Murkle,  Duncansbay,  Dunnet, 
Wesbuster,  Barrock,  Ratter,  Corsback,  Reaster,  Holland,  Tister,  Brabster- 
dorran,  Oldwick,  Canister,  Sarclet,  Ulbster,  Thruinster,  Stemster,  Humster, 
Thurster,  Bilbster,  Ackergill,  Reiss,  Harland,  Wester,  Mirelandnorn,  and 
the  towrn  of  Wick.  See  "  Origines  Parochiales  Scothe,"  "  The  Oliphants 
in  Scotland,"  and  the  national  printed  records.  What  the  Cheynes  had  in 
other  counties  was  of  large  extent  and  value. 


EVENTS.  23 

Of  Henry  Cheyne,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  there  is  some  account  in 
Bishop  Pococke's  "Tour  through  Scotland  in  1/60"  when  describing 
that  town  : — "  Bishop  Henry  Cheyne  having  taken  part  with  the  Comyns 
[now  Cummings]  in  the  dispute  about  the  crown,  on  their  being  worsted, 
fled  to  England.  But  when  things  were  settled  he  was  very  acceptable  to 
King  Robert  Bruce.  Out  of  the  arrears  due  to  the  see,  he  built  the  fine 
Gothic  bridge  of  one  arch  over  the  Don,  72  feet  wide  and  60  feet  high." 
The  editor,  D.  W.  Kemp,  notes  that  Henry  Cheyne  was  the  nephew  of 
John  Comyn.  In  Machar  Cathedral,  Aberdeen,  Pococke  says  "  the  arms 
of  the  bishops  and  benefactors  are  blazoned  with  their  names ; "  and  among 
the  monumental  inscriptions  on  the  north  side,  Henry  Cheyne  appears  as 
the  eleventh  bishop.  It  is  his  bridge  that  Lord  Byron  dreaded  to  pass 
as  a  boy,  Balgounie  Brig,  because  of  the  superstition  that  it  was  to  fall 
with  a  widow's  son  on  it.  Duncan's  "  Itinerary  of  Scotland,"  1822,  says 
that  a  mile  from  Aberdeen  the  Don  is  crossed  "  by  Bishop  Cheyne's 
majestic  Gothic  arch,  built  1329.  The  height  from  the  water  to  the  top  of 
the  arch  is  34^  feet,  the  width  62  feet  10  inches.  At  ebb  tide  the  water  is 
20  feet  deep."  The  same  useful  guide-book  notes  that  "  about  one  mile 
from  the  church  of  New  Deer  stands  old  Castle  Fedderatt,  once  a  place  of 
considerable  strength,"  the  home  of  the  Federiths,  twenty-eight  and  a  half 
miles  from  Aberdeen. 

There  is  a  Wick  memorial  of  a  Cheyne  in  an  epitaph  of  the  churchyard 
thus,  "  Here  lies  a  famous  and  honest  man  named  David  Paton,  some  time 
master  of  the  household  and  chamberlain  to  George,  [fifth]  Earl  of  Caithness, 
who  departed  the  19th  November,  1640,  his  age  82.  Here  lies  also  Janet 
Cheyne,  his  spouse,  who  departed  the  7th  September,  1639,  her  age  80. 
D.  P.,  J.  C."  More  Cheyne  lore  could  be  collected,  but  the  Kennedy  MS. 
paragraph  is  already  overweighted,  and  with  a  direction  to  what  Calder's 
second  edition  of  the  "  History  of  Caithness "  tells  of  those  gallant 
Normans,  the  captain's  narrative  is  resumed. 


CHAPTER  IV, 
KEITH  AND  GUNN  FEUD. 

li  About  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  clan  Gunn 
resided  principally  in  the  mountainous  district  between  the 
counties  of  Sutherland  and  Caithness.  They  were  a  species  of 
Swiss,  who,  in  the  frequent  disputes  between  the  inhabitants  of 
these  counties,  hired  their  services  to  the  highest  bidder,  and 
were  in  nowise  remarkable  for  having  the  strictest  ideas  as  to 
meitm  and  tuum.  They  happened  to  incur  the  enmity  and 
resentment  of  Earl-marshal  Keith,  and  many  skirmishes  had 
taken  place  with  various  success.  At  length  they  agreed  to 
decide  all  their  differences  in  a  field  in  the  vicinity  of  Innocents' 
Chapel,  commonly  called  St.  Tears'  Kirk,  situated  between 
Castle  Girnigoe  and  Ackergill  Tower.  There  200  horsemen  of 
each  clan  were  to  meet,  and  either  conclude  a  peace  or  fight  it 
out.  On  the  day  appointed,  in  the  year  1478  [some  make  it 
1434  and  others  1464],  the  200  of  the  clan  Gunn  having  first 
arrived,  under  the  command  of  Coroner  Gunn,  had  alighted 
from  their  horses,  and  were  waiting  the  approach  of  their 
antagonists,  the  Keiths.  On  these  coming  up,  it  was  perceived 
that  there  were  indeed  only  200  horsemen,  but  that  each  had  a 
foot-soldier  mounted  behind  him.     Seeing  themselves  outwitted 


EVENTS.  25 

and  outnumbered,  and  sensible  that  in  this  dilemma  they  had 
little  quarter  to  expect  from  the  inveterate  malice  and  rancour 
of  their  enemies,  the  Gunns  betook  themselves  to  the  neigh- 
bouring chapel  for  sanctuary.  This  availed  them  nothing,  for 
the  Keiths,  having  broken  open  the  doors,  entered,  and  mas- 
sacred every  man  of  them  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  See 
*  Conflicts  of  the  Clans.' 

"  The  Gunns,  thirsting  for  revenge  of  this  treacherous  and 
inhuman  slaughter  of  their  clan,  agreed  among  themselves, 
some  time  thereafter,  to  waylay  the  •  Earl-marshal  Keith  on  a 
journey  out  of  the  county.  Having  obtained  intelligence  of  the 
time  of  his  departure,  as  well  as  of  the  exact  number  of  which 
his  retinue  was  to  consist,  they  resolved  to  meet  him  on  a  bleak 
moor  near  Clyth,  in  the  parish  of  Latheron  ;  but  scorning  to 
imitate  the  ungenerous  advantage  which  had  been  taken  of 
themselves  on  the  former  occasion,  they  determined  that  their 
number  should  not  exceed  those  who  were  to  attend  the  earl. 
William  McHamish,  however,  grandson  of  Coroner  Gunn  slain 
at  St.  Tears'  Chapel,  ordered  that  four  of  their  best  and  picked 
men  were  to  be  selected  to  single  out  and  engage  the  earl- 
marshal  himself,  whom  they  called  the  Keach  More  or  the  Big 
Keith,  a  man  of  huge  stature  and  proportional  strength  of  body. 
This  precaution  was  no  more  than  necessary,  for  when  the 
parties  met,  and  the  engagement  began,  the  Keacli  More  made 
such  good  use  of  the  formidable  weapon  he  wielded,  which  was 
the  two-handed  claymore,  that  he  despatched  his  four  picked 
antagonists  besides  many  of  inferior  note.  He  was  on  the 
point  of  gaining  the  day,  in  a  great  measure  owing  to  his  own 


26  CAITHNESS 

personal  prowess,  when  an  unlucky  back  stroke  from  the  broad- 
sword of  one  of  the  clan  Gunn,  who  lay  wounded  on  the  field, 
having  divided  the  main  tendon  of  his  leg,  he  was  thus  put 
completely  hors  de  combat.  Having  been  helped  to  his  horse, 
he  made  his  escape  to  the  south,  with  only  a  very  few  of  his 
attendants.  The  rest  of  them,  after  his  lordship's  own  discom- 
fiture, were  all  hewn  in  pieces  by  the  enraged  Gunns,  who  had 
become  masters  of  the  field  of  battle.  Considering  their  honour 
vindicated  and  revenge  gratified,  the  clan  Gunn  proceeded  to 
the  burial  of  the  dead  of  both  parties  on  the  scene  of  action, 
which  is  clearly  pointed  out,  even  to  this  day,  by  some  scores  of 
large  flagstones,  set  up  in  regular  rows,  and  fixed  deeply  and 
perpendicularly  in  the  ground.  One  of  these  stones  is  said  to 
be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  grave  of  each  warrior  who  fell  in 
the  obstinate  and  sanguinary  combat. 

"  It  has  been  supposed  that  the  earl  -  marshal  never 
returned  to  Caithness  after  this  fight,  and  that  he  transferred 
his  lands  in  it  to  his  grandson,  John  Sinclair,  the  third  Earl  of 
Caithness,  either  by  sale  or  deed  of  gift.  Those  lands,  as  well 
as  the  manorplace  of  Ackergill  Tower,  now  [1814]  the  seat  of 
Sir  Benjamin  Dunbar,  baronet,  were  purchased  by  Sir  William 
Dunbar,  great-grandfather  to  Sir  Benjamin,  from  the  Earl  of 
Breadalbane,  who  in  the  latter  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had,  by  an  adjudication  deed  of  sale  or  otherwise,  obtained 
possession  of  the  whole  of  the  estates  of  the  then  Earl  of 
Caithness. "  

The  number  200  instead  of  12  in  the  massacre  by  the  Keiths  makes 
Captain  Kennedy's  a  new  version  of  the  dread  tale,  which  need  not  be 


EVENTS.  27 

further  discussed,  as  its  various  points  have  appeared  in  "  The  Gunns,"  pub- 
lished in  1890.  On  the  question  of  its  exact  date  opinion  still  differs. 
Sheriff  /Eneas  Mackay,  LL.D.,  in  the  ninth  edition  of  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britanniea,"  article  "Scotland,"  is  inclined  to  fix  the  massacre  as  in  1434. 
About  that  time  James  I.,  the  author  of  "  The  King's  Quire  or  Book,"  an 
English  poem,  had  put  down  the  terrible  feuds  of  the  Highlands.  Some 
years  previously  the  clans  Chattan  and  Cameron  had  nearly  exterminated 
each  other ;  and  the  Keith  and  Gunn  episode  may  have  been  a  resurgence 
of  the  suppressed  evil,  the  king's  energetic  presence  at  Inverness  in  1427 
having  created  civil  order  in  the  north.  His  murder  at  Perth  in  14.37  let 
loose  clan  strife  again,  and  next  year  the  Mackays  from  Strathnaver  attacked 
Caithness,  defeating  its  people  in  The  Chase  of  Sandside.  That  year  of 
1438,  the  Mackays  aided  the  Keiths  to  gain  the  battle  of  Tannach  Moor, 
near  Wick,  over  the  Gunns.  It  would  seem  certain  that  the  event  at 
Innocents'  Chapel  took  place  after  this,  but  to  accept  absolutely  either 
Calder's  date  of  1464  or  Kennedy's  of  1478  is  still  dangerous.  Sir  Robert 
Gordon  says,  after  describing  this  very  battle  of  Tannach,  "All  these 
seditions  and  troubles,  which  happened  at  that  time,  not  only  in  the  diocese 
of  Caithness  but  also  throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  fell  out  through  the 
division  which  was  then  in  the  state  between  the  governor,  Sir  Alexander 
Livingstone,  and  Sir  William  Crichton,  chancellor  of  Scotland,  after  King 
James  the  First's  death,  during  the  minority  of  James  II.,  from  1437  until 
1443."  Sheriff  Mackay's  1434  is  too  early,  as  being  when  the  rule  of 
James  the  First  was  most  dreaded  by  disturbers  of  his  peace. 

The  battle  of  Mannistones,  at  the  home  of  the  present  and  previous 
Earl  of  Caithness  in  Mid  Clyth,  was,  according  to  Captain  Kennedy,  the 
last  conflict  between  the  Keiths  and  the  Gunns,  and  therefore  subsequent 
to  the  tragedy  at  St.  Tears'  Chapel.  The  date  of  1478  might  be  applicable 
to  that  fight,  which  has  memorial  in  the  name  of  a  stream  near  where  it 
took  place,  The  Red  Burn,  the  water  of  which  was  said  to  have  been 
tinged  with  the  blood  shed  on  that  day. 

As  to  Earl-marshal  Keith  never  returning  to  Caithness  after  the  fight 
of  Mannistones,  it  may  or  may  not  be  true,  but  that  he  gave  his  lands  there 
away  is  not  fact,  for  "  Origines  Parochiales  Scotiae "  says  the  castle  of 


28  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

Ackergill,  with  half  the  lands,  was  in  1538  possessed  by  William,  Earl- 
marshal,  as  probably  the  other  half  was  also.  It  was  through  buying  Lord 
Oliphant's  estates  that  the  Sinclairs  secured  Ackergill,  the  Oliphants 
succeeding  the  Keiths.  In  1547  there  was  violent  righting  between  George 
Sinclair,  the  fourth  earl,  great-grandson  of  the  Keach  More,  for  possession 
of  Ackergill  Castle,  "  belonging  to  William,  Earl-marshal,"  but  soon  after 
Earl  Georges.  In  Blaeu's  "  Atlas  Major,"  published  1662,  there  is  a 
"  New  Description  of  Caithness,"  written  some  years  previously,  with  this 
about  the  castles,  "  Castle  Sinclair,  formerly  Girnigoe,  the  castle  of  the 
Sinclair  earls,  not  far  from  the  town  of  Wick,  holds  the  first  place.  In  its 
neighbourhood  is  Ackergill,  not  long  ago  belonging  to  the  family  of  the 
Keiths,  but  now  devolved  upon  these  earls."  In  the  same  essay  it  is  added, 
"  Keith  of  Inverugie,  from  the  marshal's  family,  holds  much  property  here. 
The  illustrious  earl-marshal  heired  it  not  long  since,  the  head  of  the  house 
of  Keith.  They  gave  it  over  by  writ  to  the  Mowats."  Enough  is  said  to 
show  that  the  Keach  More  did  not  give  his  Caithness  lands  to  his  grandson, 
John  Sinclair,  third  Earl  of  Caithness  ;  though  Earl  John  must  have  had 
portions  through  his  Keith  mother's  dowry,  and  from  her  third  part,  if  she 
was  a  dowager.  In  the  charter-chest  of  the  extinct  laird  of  Mey  family, 
so-called  "  Earls  of  Caithness,"  there  was  a  charter  of  Ackergill,  given  by 
Lord  Oliphant  on  7th  May,  1550,  to  George  Sinclair,  the  fourth  earl, 
justiciary  of  Caithness  and  Sutherland.  The  deed  of  entail  by  Sir  William 
Dunbar  of  Hempriggs,  11th  October,  1707,  which  will  be  published  in  full 
in  the  "  Bruce-Caithness  MSS.,"  gives  complete  account  of  how  the 
Dunbars,  really  Sutherlands,  came  into  possession  of  Ackergill  and  the  rest 
of  their  valuable  estates.  Two  purchases  from  John  Campbell,  first  Earl  of 
Breadalbane  (the  Glenorchy  of  Altimarlach  battle),  and  from  his  son  John, 
one  dated  12th  August,  20th  September,  and  31st  October,  1691,  and 
the  other  6th  and  23rd  November,  1699,  were  the  introduction  of  the 
Sutherlands  into  Ackergill  Tower  as  its  lairds,  Sir  Benjamin  becoming 
Lord  DufFus,  a  peer,  who  died  in  1843. 


CHAPTER    Y. 
THE  SECOND  SINCLAIR  EARL  OF  CAITHNESS. 

,c  The  dignity  of  the  earldom  of  Caithness  was  conferred  on 
George  Chrichton  [8th  July,  1452,  who  died  in  1455].  As  his 
patent  was  limited  to  the  heirs  male  of  his  own  body,  and  that 
he  died  without  such  issue,  the  earldom  became  extinct,  and 
the  title  remained  dormant  till  revived  the  same  year  of  1455 
in  William  Sinclair,  Earl  or  Duke  of  Orkney.  His  second  son 
William,  by  Marjory  Sutherland,  daughter  of  John,  Master  of 
Sutherland,  had  the  resignation  of  the  earldom  from  his  father  in 
1476,  on  which  resignation  King  James  III.  gave  him  a  charter 
under  the  great  seal  dated  7th  December,  1476.  At  the  battle 
of  Flodden  he  was  slain  with  King  James  IV.  in  the  year  1513, 
the  second  Earl  of  Caithness  of  the  surname  of  Sinclair.  The 
Sinclairs  had  Orkney  long  before  then,  and  one  of  them,  Henry, 
was  also  Prince  of  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst  on  the  continent 
of  Europe. 

"  William,  second  Earl  of  Caithness,  had  by-  some  means  or 
other  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  king  to  such  a  degree  that 
he  could  not  venture  to  appear  at  court,  and  proceedings  had  even 
been  commenced  against  him  for  the  forfeiture  of  his  estates 


30  CAITHNESS 

and  titles.  However,  on  the  general  summons  being  issued  in 
1513  for  all  the  nobility  of  the  realm  to  attend  the  king  in  the 
war  with  England,  he  assembled  his  whole  clan,  and  having 
clothed  them  in  a  handsome  and  splendid  green  uniform, 
marched  on  a  Monday  morning  at  their  head  out  of  the  county, 
crossing  the  famous  pass  called  the  Ord  the  same  evening  on 
the  way  to  join  his  sovereign.  Upon  their  arrival  at  the 
appointed  rendezvous,  which  from  the  great  distance  they  had 
come  occurred  only  the  evening  before  the  battle  of  Flodden, 
this  gallant  troop  attracted  his  majesty's  particular  notice. 
Having  enquired  who  they  were,  the  principal  people  about 
him,  who  were  well  aware  of  his  resentment  against  the  Earl  of 
Caithness,  showed  backwardness  in  telling  him.  But  the  king 
insisted  on  knowing,  and  was  at  last  informed  that  it  was  the 
earl,  at  the  head  of  the  clan  Sinclair.  His  majesty,  struck 
with  this  unexpected  example  of  generous  loyalty  and  obedi- 
ence, after  musing  within  his  own  mind  for  a  little,  is  said  to 
have  expressed  himself  thus,  '  My  lords,  since  that  is  the  case, 
let  byegones  be  byegones,  for  a  friend  in  need  is  a  friend 
indeed.'  Having  sent  for  the  earl,  he  freely  forgave  him  his 
former  trespasses,  and  ordered  a  full  pardon  and  remission  to 
be  instantly  made  out.  But  as  there  was  no  parchment  to  be 
found  in  the  camp,  the  king  ordered  it  to  be  written  on  the 
head  of  a  drum,  and  having  signed  the  document  in  presence  of 
his  nobility,  directed  it  to  be  cut  out  from  the  drum.  There- 
after he  delivered  it,  with  his  own  hand,  to  Lord  Caithness. 
His  lordship,  uncertain  of  the  result  that  might  arise  from  the 
ensuing  day's  work,  and  sensible  of  the  importance  of  such  a 


EVENTS.  31 

valuable  document,  took  the  prudent  resolution  of  despatching  a 
trusty  messenger  home  with  it  to  Caithness  that  very  evening. 
He  acted  wisely,  for  on  the  next  day  he  and  all  his  followers, 
after  exhibiting  repeated  proofs  of  the  most  unexampled  and 
determined  gallantry  and  bravery  in  the  unfortunate  field  of 
Flodden,  were  all  at  last  cut  off  to  a  man.  The  messenger 
having  arrived  in  safety,  the  parchment  was  lodged  in  the 
archives  of  the  family  of  Caithness,  where  it  still  remains.  The 
severe  and  almost  wholly  fatal  blow  which  the  clan  had  thus 
met  with,  made  such  a  deep  impression  that,  until  very  lately, 
no  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Sinclair  was  inclined  to  cross  the 
pass  of  the  Ord  on  a  Monday,  nor  was  there  any  one  of  that 
surname  who  did  not  prefer  a  coat  of  any  other  colour  than 
green. 

"This  William,  the  second  of  the  Sinclairs  who  held  the 
earldom  of  Caithness,  resided  at  Castle  Girnigoe,  situated  on  a 
projecting  rock  or  precipice  near  Noss  Head,  on  the  east  side 
of  Sinclair  Bay.  From  the  ruins  of  this  castle  still  standing, 
it  was  not  only  a  mansion  of  great  strength,  but  also,  for  those 
days,  of  considerable  elegance  of  architecture.  He  was  married 
to  Mary  Keith,  daughter  to  the  laird  of  Inverugie,  Aberdeen- 
shire, afterwards  earl-marshal  of  Scotland.  The  earl-marshal 
was  possessed  of  lands  in  Caithness,  and  resided  frequently  at 
Ackergill  Tower,  a  very  strong  keep  at  the  most  inland  part  of 
Sinclair  Bay,  about  a  couple  of  miles  west  of  Castle  Girnigoe. 
He  was  possessed  of  property  throughout  the  wThole  north  of 
Scotland,  and  it  is  said  that  when  he  came  occasionally  from  his 
chief  seat  of  Dunottar  Castle,  in  the  Mearns,  to  visit  his  estate 


32  CAITHNESS 

in    Caithness,  he  could  during  the  whole  course  of  his  journey 
lodge  every  night  in  a  house  of  his  own. 

°  Having  quarrelled  with  his  son-in-law,  the  Ear]  of  Caith- 
ness, he  took  an  opportunity,  on  a  New  Year's  day  morning, 
when  the  Earl  of  Caithness  and  some  attendants  had  been  out 
coursing  with  greyhounds,  and  were  returning  on  horseback 
within  bowshot  of  the  battlements  of  Ackergill  Tower,  to 
wound  him  with  an  arrow,  which  stuck  in  the  back  of  his  neck. 
Finding  himself  wounded,  the  earl  did  not  attempt  to  with- 
draw the  arrow,  but,  having  clapped  spurs  to  his  horse,  arrived 
at  his  own  house  of  Castle  Girnigoe.  His  lady  enquiring  what 
sport  he  had  met  with,  he  replied,  '  Not  much;  only,  in  passing 
by  Ackergill  Tower,  your  father  sent  home  a  New  Year's  gift 
for  you,  which  you  may  find  fixed  in  the  back  of  my  neck.' ' 


Earl  William  was  immediate  younger  half-brother  of  William,  Lord 
Sinclair,  Ravensheuch  Castle,  Fifeshire,  who  was  declared  on  26th 
January,  1488,  by  the  king  and  parliament  of  Scotland,  "chief  of  that 
blood."  Sir  Oliver  Sinclair,  baron  of  Roslin  Castle,  Edinburgh,  was  Earl 
William's  full  younger  brother.  Their  sister  Catherine  was  the  Duchess  of 
Albany,  her  husband  Alexander  Stuart  heir-presumptive  to  the  crown  and 
second  person  in  the  kingdom.  Stoddart  in  his  "Armorial  Bearings," 
Edinburgh,  1881,  states  that  the  mullet  was  borne  long  in  the  Roslin  arms, 
and  that  as  this  was  the  mark  of  cadency  of  third  son,  Sir  Oliver's  position 
in  the  family  was  so  settled,  though  there  has  been  some  disputing  as  to  his 
juniority  or  seniority  to  Earl  William.  In  the  rolls  of  parliament  surviving, 
this  earl  is  entered  16th  February,  1505,  one  of  many  such  entries  as  a 
legislator.  At  the  parliament  in  Edinburgh  on  8th  June,  1504,  he 
witnessed  a  document  by  the  Earl  of  Athole  promising  to  underlie  the  law 
for  treason.     In  the  1505  roll  mentioned,  he  is  one  of  the  four  earls  in  that 


EVENTS.  33 

particular  list  See  "Acta  Parliamentorum  Scotiae."  His  father  is 
mentioned  on  26th  July,  1515,  as  "a  noble  and  powerful  lord,  William, 
Count  of  Caithness,"  in  a  Latin  paper  about  his  daughter  Catherine's 
divorce  for  too  near  consanguinity,  proof  that  her  brother  Earl  William  was 
the  second  holder  of  the  dignity.  In  the  charter  of  the  great  seal 
mentioned  by  Kennedy  he  is  described  as  son  of  William,  Earl  of  Caithness, 
and  Marjory  Sutherland,  his  countess,  Marjory's  third  part  of  the  earldom 
expressly  reserved. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  second  Earl  William's  life,  Caithness  was  in 
great  disorder.  In  1503  parliament  passed  an  act  saying,  "Because  there 
has  been  great  lack  and  fault  of  justice  in  the  north  parts,  as  Caithness  and 
Ross,  for  fault  of  the  want  of  division  of  the  sheriffdom  of  Inverness,  to  our 
regret,  and  these  parts  are  so  far  distant  from  the  burgh  of  Inverness, 
through  which  people  cannot  come  speedily  there  by  reason  of  the  great 
expense,  labour,  and  travel,  and  therefore  great  enormities  and  trespasses 
have  grown,  in  default  of  officers  within  those  parts  who  have  power  to  put 
good  rule  among  the  people,  etc.,  etc."  On  these  grounds  there  were  to  be 
a  sheriff  of  Ross  and  one  of  Caithness,  the  latter  sitting  at  Dornoch  or 
Wick  as  convenient.  In  the  work  entitled  "Parliaments  of  Scotland," 
covering  1357  to  1707,  it  is  said  that  this  act,  though  passed,  was 
inoperative  till  ratified  for  Caithness  in  1641  and  Ross  in  1649.  It  is 
evident  that  it  was  an  invasion  of  Earl  William's  rights  as  justiciary  over 
what  is  now  Sutherland  and  Caithness.  There  is  evidence  that  he  was  in 
trouble,  if  not  forfeiture ;  but,  from  the  above,  actual  deprivation  at  any 
time  did  not  result. 

The  extraordinary  thing  is  that  the  Kennedy  MS.  seems  to  throw  light 
on  what  may  have  been  the  cause  of  his  antagonism  with  the  crown.  A 
bishop  slain  at  Kilmster  by  the  earl's  men,  for  which  he  as  justiciary  was 
made  responsible,  according  to  the  legal  habits  of  the  time,  would  appear 
to  be  historical  fact.  Captain  Kennedy  attached  to  the  event  what  he 
gathered  from  Gordon  and  others  about  the  earlier  slaughters  of  bishops, 
and  thus  went  far  astray,  though  preserving  the  incident,  for  which  he 
deserves  all  praise.  Mackay  in  his  "  History  of  the  Mackays  "  quotes  from 
an  old  inventory  a  remission  by  George  Hepburn  (uncle  of  the  first  Earl  of 


34  CAITHNESS 

Both  well),  who  was  Apostle  or  Bishop  of  the  Isles  from  1510  to  1513,  in 
favour  of  William,  Earl  of  Caithness,  "  for  all  murders  and  crimes  committed 
by  him  for  the  year  1501  to  1510."  Of  course,  "  murders  and  crimes"  must 
mean  incidents  of  disputed  administration,  feuds,  and  property  quarrels, 
according  to  the  language  of  the  period,  not  personal  felony  at  all.  This 
ecclesiastical  remission,  shortly  before  Earl  William  fell  at  Flodden,  was  a 
prerequisite  to  his  sovereign's  remission  on  that  fatal  field.  In  the  sasine 
or  possessory  document  following  his  son  John's  retour  in  1513,  on  his 
father's  death  that  year,  to  the  earldom,  there  is  this  referring  to  the 
remission,  "  Wherein  the  murder  of  the  bishop  is  thought  to  be  compre- 
hended, of  date  1510."  Mackay  supposes  that  a  rivalry  between  Earl 
William's  brother  John  and  the  bishop  was  the  cause  of  the  latter's 
slaughter.  John  Sinclair  was  Bishop-elect  of  Caithness,  but  was  never 
consecrated,  the  pope  refusing,  it  is  suggested,  at  the  instance  of  the  ruling 
bishop.  After  the  bishop's  murder,  it  was  Adam  Gordon,  the  dean,  who 
administered  the  bishopric,  and  not  John.  In  1503  Andrew  Stuart  is 
Bishop  of  Caithness,  see  "  Acts  of  Parliament  of  Scotland  ; "  and  it  was  not 
he  who  was  murdered,  because  he  appears  in  the  same  record  at  Perth  in 
the  king's  council,  26th  November,  1513,  the  year  of  Flodden.  It  was  a 
predecessor,  perhaps  Bishop  Prosper,  whose  life  closed  so  wretchedly  in  the 
hole  at  Kilmster,  and  evidence  survives  to  show  that  the  bishop-elect,  John 
Sinclair,  was  not  at  all  events  the  prime  cause  of  the  slaughter,  if  even  at 
all  responsible.  Kilmster  was  then  church  land,  afterwards  coming  into 
the  possession  of  the  Caithness  earls,  with  many  other  places  there,  all 
erected  into  a  barony,  with  South  Kilmster  mansion  the  head  messuage. 
Of  the  charters  of  the  great  seal,  one  was  confirmed  by  King  James  III.  at 
Edinburgh,  9th  November,  14/8,  which  had  been  granted  by  William, 
Bishop  of  Caithness,  in  1455,  with  consent  of  the  dean  and  chapter,  to  his 
brother,  Gilbert  Mudy.  It  gave  him  the  castles  of  Scrabster  and  Skibo 
with  10  merks  of  land  for  defending  the  church  lands,  with  the  ninepenny 
lands  of  Wick,  Alterwall,  Stroma,  and  Dorrery.  It  was  about  these  very 
properties  Earl  William's  grandson  Earl  George,  had  such  battling,  and  the 
quarrel  evidently  began  in  the  grandfather's  time.  Alexander  Gordon, 
Earl  of  Sutherland,  held  them  and  others  in  feefarm  from  the  church  before 


EVENTS.  35 

Earl  George.  Enough  is  stated  to  show  that  the  murder  of  a  Bishop  of 
Caithness,  about  1470,  must  be  added  to  the  previous  tragedies  ;  and  not 
improbably  he  also  brought  vengeance,  evidently  in  his  case  also  of  the 
people,  on  his  own  head  by  looking  too  much  after  lay  interests,  if  it  was 
not  rivalry  with  the  earl's  brother,  Bishop  John,  to  whom  he  resigned  the 
bishopric  in  1460.  A  new  fact  among  old  records  may  quite  clear  up  this 
all  but  lost  chapter  of  the  past.  Earl  William  held  the  earldom  for 
thirty-seven  years  from  his  father's  resignation  of  it,  but  he  must  have  been 
in  possession  much  longer.  His  sole  crime,  in  connection  with  the  murder 
of  the  bishop,  was  that  the  tragedy  happened  in  Kilmster  within  his 
jurisdiction  bounds  ;  and  the  supposed  or  real  forfeiture  must  have  been 
because  he  did  not  punish  the  mob  with  the  rigour  which  the  church  and 
the  crown  demanded.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  popular  with 
Caithnessmen,  as  his  gallant  following  to  fight  the  English  is  brilliant 
proof.  If  the  people  had  grievances  against  their  bishop  in  the  fifteenth  as 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  there  may  have  been  good  reasons  for  the  earl's 
leniency,  to  himself  most  of  all  testing,  as  putting  his  life  and  fortune  to 
the  balance.  James  IV.  apprised  Canisbay,  etc.,  from  him  for  a  debt  of 
£400,  another  reason  of  discontent.  John  Leyden,  the  Border  poet,  has 
spirited  lines  about  prowess  on  the  field  of  Flodden  ;  but  Earl  William's 
."  amber  locks  "  did  not  "  redundant  wave,"  as  they  were  very  grey. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

BATTLE  OF  SUMMERDALE  IN  ORKNEY. 

"  William  Sinclair,  the  Earl  of  Caithness  slain  at  Flodden 
with  King  James  the  Fourth,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  John, 
whom  he  had  by  his  wife  the  daughter  of  the  earl-marshal. 
This  Earl  John  having  passed  over  to  Orkney,  with  a  view 
to  recover  lands  to  which  he  laid  claim  in  that  country,  was 
treacherously  set  upon  by  the  inhabitants,  and  slain  with  all  his 
attendants,  near  the  loch  of  Stennis,  on  the  mainland  of  Orkney, 
in  the  year  1529.  It  is  said  those  savage  Orcadians  were  com- 
plaisant enough  to  send  back  his  lordship's  head  to  Caithness. 
Hence  arose  a  custom  of  saying,  by  way  of  malediction  to  any 
one  going  on  an  expedition  where  no  success  was  expected  or 
even  desired,  '  I  wish  you  as  lucky  a  journey  as  Lord  Caithness 
made  to  Orkney,  his  head  being  all  that  came  back.'  Earl 
John  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Sutherland,  daughter  of  Lord 
Duffus,  by  whom  he  had  his  second  son  and  successor,  George, 
the  fourth  earl." 


Of  Earl  John,  who  was  named  after  his  uncle,  Bishop-elect  John,  for 
whom  the,  as  it  seems,  fated  Bishop  Prosper  resigned,  a  good  deal  is  now 
known.  Sir  Robert  Gordon  tells  how  he  recovered  the  county  of 
Sutherland    and    Dunrobin    Castle   from   the    Countess    of   Sutherland's 


CAITHNESS  EVENTS.  37 

supposed  illegitimate  brother,  Alexander  Sutherland,  for  Adam  Gordon. 
He  had  a  charter  of  Helmsdale  in  1513,  probably  through  his  Sutherland 
wife,  a  near  relative  to,  and  of  the  same  surname  with,  the  countess^ 
Adam's  wife.  In  "The  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,"  published  in 
1/91,  etc.,  there  is  information  about  the  Orkney  expedition,  especially 
with  regard  to  Earl  John's  gigantic  follower  William  Sutherland  of 
Berriedale.  Sutherland  had  a  just  grievance  against  Robert  Gunn  of 
Braemore,  who  tricked  him  into  marrying  his  sister,  and  he  went  to  complain 
to  the  Earl  of  Caithness  as  justiciary.  Earl  John,  who  had  previous  troubles 
with  Gunn  (see  notes  to  Calder,  2nd  edition,  p.  324),  "promised  him 
redress  as  soon  as  he  returned  from  the  Orkneys,  where  he  was  going  to 
quell  a  rebellion,  along  with  Sinclair,  the  baron  of  Roslin,  and  wished  that 
William,  being  a  very  strong  man,  would  accompany  him.  William 
consented  to  do  so,  and  returned  from  Girnigoe  Castle  to  Berriedale  Castle? 
to  bid  his  friends  farewell  before  he  would  go  so  dangerous  an  expedition. 
Just  as  he  was  parting  from  them,  at  the  burial  ground  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Water  of  Berriedale,  he  told  his  friends  that  he  suspected  he  never 
would  return  from  Orkney.  He  then  laid  himself  down  on  the  heath,  and 
desired  his  companions  to  fix  two  stones  in  the  earth,  the  one  at  his  head 
and  the  other  at  his  feet,  in  order  to  show  to  posterity  his  uncommon 
stature.  Ihese  stones  remain  there  still,  and  the  exact  distance  between 
them  is  9  feet  5  inches.  Tradition  also  mentions  his  height  to  have  been 
above  9  feet.  He  went  with  Lord  Caithness  and  the  rest  to  the  Orkneys, 
where  he,  as  well  as  the  earl  and  his  son"  [William,  the  eldest],  "was 
killed.  This  happened  in  the  year  1529.  The  cause  of  the  rebellion  was 
this.  In  the  year  1529  King  James  V.  granted  the  islands  of  Orkney  to  his 
natural  brother,  James  Stuart,  Earl  of  Moray,  and  his  heirs  male.  The 
inhabitants  took  umbrage  that  an  overlord  should  be  interposed  between 
them  and  the  sovereign,  and  rose  in  arms  under  the  command  of  Sir  James 
Sinclair  of  Sanday.  Lord  Sinclair,  baron  of  Roslin "  [rather  of  Ravens- 
heuch],  "and  John,  Earl  of  Caithness,  were  sent  with  a  party  of  men  to 
quell  the  rebels,  but  the  islanders  defeated  them,  and  the  earl  and  his  son 
William,  with  William  More  Sutherland,  who  accompanied  them,  were 
killed.      The    Caithnessmen    who    survived    carried    back    the    Earl    of 


38  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

Caithness's  head,  to  be  buried  in  his  lordship's  burial  place  in  Caithness." 
The  battle  was  fought  18th  May,  1529,  four  miles  from  Stromncss. 

In  March,  1529,  Buchanan  says  King  James  V.  gave  James  Stuart, 
Earl  of  Moray,  the  lieutenancy  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  Orkney  may  have 
been  part  of  his  promotions  at  the  time.  Some  Scotch  historians  say  that 
it  was  John,  Earl  of  Caithness,  who  was  in  rebellion  against  his  king, 
trying  to  seize  the  Orkneys  on  old  claims,  but  the  above  has  a  greater 
appearance  of  truth.  It  is  said  that  the  Caithness  or  king's  party 
numbered  500.  Worsaae,  the  Dane,  agrees  with  "  The  Statistical 
Account "  in  writing,  "  The  islanders  took  up  arms  under  the  command  of 
their  governor,  Sir  James  Sinclair,  to  oppose  the  appointment  of  a  crown 
vassal  over  them." 

In  the  Celtic  Magazine  for  1887  there  are  many  interesting  points 
touched  upon  about  Earl  John ;  and  "  The  Bruce  Caithness  MSS.," 
published  in  the  Northern  Ensign,  have  a  charter  by  him  of  Ekirnoss  to 
Alexander  Brisbane  of  Reiss,  dated  Girnigoe  Castle,  28th  March,  1520. 
In  Bain's  "  Merchant  Guilds  of  Aberdeen  "  he  gives  a  charter  of  donation 
to  Trinity  Convent,  Aberdeen,  for  his  father  Earl  William's  soul,  his  own, 
and  the  souls  of  friends  and  successors,  264  masses  to  be  sung  yearly  in  all, 
the  charter  dated  Wick,  19th  October,  1523.  His  lawful  brother,  the 
Hon.  Alexander  Sinclair  of  Dunbeath,  also  benefited  that  convent  or 
hospital  of  friars,  rather  monastery  than  convent.  The  register  of  the  great 
seal  has  a  confirmation  by  James  V.  to  Earl  John  and  his  wife  Elizabeth 
Sutherland  on  14th  July,  1527,  of  Keiss,  Stone,  and  Rowdale  ;  and  he 
then  resigned  the  earldom  in  favour  of  his  son  William,  who  was,  however, 
slain  at  the  battle  of  Summerdale  in  1529. 


CHAPTER    YII. 

JOHN,  MASTER  OF  CAITHNESS,  AND  HIS  FATHER. 

"  George,  fourth  Earl  of  Caithness,  was  married  to  Lady 
Elizabeth  Grahame,  daughter  to  the  Earl  of  Montrose,  by 
whom  he  had  his  eldest  son,  John,  Lord  Berriedale,  commonly 
called  John  G arrow,  the  latter  word  meaning  strong,  rough,  or 
robust.  John  was  so  named  from  his  uncommon  size  and  bodily 
strength.  Earl  George  had  several  other  children  by  his  wife. 
George  Sinclair  was  his  third  son,  to  whom  he  gave  the  lands 
of  Mey,  &c,  from  whom  the  present  Earl  of  Caithness  [James 
Sinclair,  born  in  1767,  then  47,  the  first  Mey  usurper  of  the 
title  from  the  Broynach  lawful  earls]  and  the  greater  part  of 
all  the  gentry  of  the  county  of  the  surname  of  Sinclair  are 
descended.  George,  the  fourth  earl,  lived  much  at  court,  where 
he  appears  to  have  been  in  great  favour.  He  sat  as  chancellor 
of  the  jury  on  Bothwell's  trial.  By  interest  he  had  his  town  of 
Wick  erected  into  a  royal  burgh.  He  died  at  Edinburgh  in 
1583,  where  his  heart  was  soldered  up  in  a  leaden  box  a,nd 
conveyed  to  Caithness.  There  it  was  deposited  in  the  family 
burial-place,  a  vault  in  the  Sinclairs'  aisle  at  Wick. 

"  Having  conceived  some  grudge  or  umbrage  against  his  son, 
John  Garrow,  he  had  him  confined  in  a  subterraneous  vault  in 


40  CAITHNESS 

Castle  Girnigoe,  under  the  custody  of  Ingelram  or  Ingram  and 
David  Sinclair,  two  brothers  who  during  the  earl's  absence 
acted  as  factors  or  trustees  for  his  lordship.  These  men,  think- 
ing they  were  doing  an  acceptable  piece  of  service  to  their 
constituent,  had  treated  John  Garrow,  his  son,  with  the  most 
unparalleled  harshness  and  cruelty.  The  tradition  is  that 
dreading  vengeance  if  he  ever  recovered  his  liberty,  or  tired  at 
last  with  guarding  him  strictly,  they  concerted  the  following 
scheme  for  getting  rid  of  him  at  once.  His  dinner,  the  only 
meal  allowed,  was  every  day  carried  down  to  him  at  a  fixed 
hour,  and  being,  as  already  said,  a  man  of  most  uncommon 
health  and  strength,  he  indulged  his  appetite  in  eating  heartily 
of  such  victuals  as  were  set  before  him.  They  therefore,  after 
having  designedly  omitted  to  send  him  down  the  regular  meal 
one  day  as  usual,  sent  him  on  the  following  day  a  large  mess  of 
salt  beef,  and,  as  a  refinement  on  their  ordinary  cruelty,  accom- 
jmnied  it  with  the  covered,  but  this  time  empty,  flagon  in  wThich 
he  usually  had  his  drink.  The  consequence  was  that  on  their 
next  visit  to  the  vault  he  w^as  found  dead,  and  the  earl  was 
written  to  that  his  son  had  died  suddenly  in  confinement. 

"  This  John  Garrow  had  been  married  to  Lady  Jean 
Hepburn,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Both  well.  When  he  married 
her,  she  was  the  widow  of  John  Stuart,  Prior  of  Coldinghame. 
By  her  he  had  George,  the  fifth  Earl  of  Caithness,  James 
Sinclair  of  Murkle,  Sir  John  Sinclair  of  Greenland  and  Ratter, 
and  John  Sinclair  of  Stirkoke,  slain  in  a  skirmish  in  the  streets 
of  Thurso  in  1612.  He  had  also  a  daughter,  who  was  Lady 
Cowdenknows,  and  Henry  Sinclair,  a  bastard  son.     George,  the 


EVENTS.  41 

fourth  earl,  had,  besides  his  eldest  son,  John  GaiTow,  a  second 
"William,  a  third  George  above-mentioned,  and  a  fourth  David, 
who  begat  William  Sinclair  of  Forss  Mills  and  John  Sinclair  of 
Dunn  [a  pencilled  note  says  '  William  Sinclair  was  son  of  David 
Sinclair  of  Dunn  '  ].  Earl  George  had  also  four  daughters,  the 
first,  Lady  Barbara  married  to  the  Earl  of  Sutherland  but  had 
no  issue;  the  second,  Lady  Agnes,  Countess  of  Errol,  after- 
wards married  to  Alexander  Gordon  of  Strathdown,  who  had 
issue  by  both  her  husbands  ;  the  third,  Lady  Elizabeth,  married 
to  Lord  Duffus,  and  afterwards  to  Hucheon  Mackay  of  Farr  ; 
the  fourth,  to  another  Lord  Duffus.  He  was  likewise  father  to 
Alexander  Sinclair  of  Dunbeath,  a  bastard,  whose  successors 
disponed  the  lands  of  Dunbeath  to  Lord  Forbes,  who  again 
sold  them  to  Sir  John  Sinclair,  brother  to  the  laird  of  Mey  [a 
pencilled  note  says  (  Alexander  Sinclair  was  son  of  William,  the 
second  Earl  of  Caithness,  and  not  a  bastard,'  about  which  fact 
there  is  no  doubt  whatever].  He  had  another  bastard  son  who 
was  parson  of  Olrig.  [This  Rev.  William  was  the  son  of  the 
deceased  Henry,  Lord  Sinclair,  and  was  legitimated  20th  Feb- 
ruary, 1539,  under  the  designation  of  Master  William  Sinclair, 
Rector  of  Olrig,  for  which  see  the  register  of  charters  under  the 
great  seal]." 

Beside  this  strictly  local  account  by  Captain  Kennedy  of  the  supposed 
tragedy  or  tragedies  of  Girnigoe  Castle,  let  the  calumnies  of  Sir  Robert 
Gordon,  in  all  their  naked  virulence,  be  placed,  as  extracted  from  his 
"Genealogy  of  the  Earls  of  Sutherland."  On  page  157  he  says,  "John, 
Master  of  Caithness,  was  punished  by  the  hands  of  his  own  father,  whom 
God  in  his  just  judgment  had  appointed  to  be  his  scourge,  for  burning  the 


42  CAITHNESS 

church  of  Dornoch,  by  famishing  him  to  death  in  woeful  captivity."  On 
pp.  163-4  it  is  said  that,  "  At  this  very  time  George,  Earl  of  Caithness, 
became  jealous  of  his  eldest  son,  John,  Master  of  Caithness,  and  suspected 
that  he  was  plotting  something  against  his  life,  by  the  assistance  of  Mackay 
of  Strathnaver,  who,  to  clear  himself  and  the  Master  of  Caithness  from 
these  imputations  and  surmises,  persuaded  the  Master  to  go  to  Girnigoe 
Castle  and  submit  himself  to  his  father's  will  and  pleasure.  To  this  the 
Master  yielded  at  Mackay's  earnest  entreaty.  The  very  same  night  that 
they  arrived  at  Girnigoe,  now  [1630]  called  Castle  Sinclair,  the  Earl  of 
Caithness,  as  he  was  talking  with  his  son  the  Master,  caused  by  a  secret 
sign  a  company  of  men  to  rush  in  at  the  chamber  door  and  apprehend  the 
Master,  who  presently  was  fettered  in  sure  bonds,  and  thrust  into  prison 
within  that  castle.  There  he  was  kept  in  miserable  captivity  for  the  space 
of  seven  years,  and  died  at  last  in  prison  by  famine  and  vermin,  the 
disastrous  subject  of  cruel  fortune." 

By  the  context,  the  opening  phrase  of  the  extract,  "  At  this  very  time," 
could  only  mean  between  28th  August,  1571,  and  July,  15/3  ;  so  that  on 
Gordon's  own  statements,  the  Master  was  not  imprisoned  seven  years,  his 
gravestone  in  Wick  recording  the  death  as  on  15th  March,  1576.  Other 
evidence  proves  the  imprisonment  to  have  been  from  September,  1572, 
arbitration  documents  in  Barrogill  Castle  so  showing.  Gordon  therefore 
doubles  this  fact,  as  he  exaggerates  everything  on  which  his  malice  can 
found  blame. 

The  story  of  the  Master's  killing  of  his  brother  William  is  the  same 
class  of  lie,  even  judged  on  Gordon's  narration.  He  says  that  Murdoch, 
the  keeper  of  the  prison,  was  detected  by  William  in  a  plot  to  rescue  the 
Master,  and  was  hanged.  He  then  commits  himself  to  the  following : — 
"  The  Master  of  Caithness,  understanding  how  matters  went,  and  that  his 
brother  William  Sinclair  had  discovered  the  plot  to  their  father,  watched 
his  time  till  he  found  his  brother  alone  with  him  in  the  prison,  being  come 
hither  to  visit  him,  and  then  invaded  and  bruised  him  so  with  the  irons 
wherewith  himself  was  enchained,  that  he  died  within  fifteen  days  there- 
after." As  if  to  enhance  the  absurdity  of  this  false  accusation  of  murder, 
or  even  of  manslaughter,  to  disgrace  the  Sinclair  family  if  he  could,  the 


EVENTS.  43 

ridiculously  untrue  side-head  is  put  to  the  passage : — "  The  Master  of 
Caithness  strangleth  his  own  brother  to  death."  For  if  a  struggle  took 
place  at  all,  of  which  there  is  no  indication  beyond  a  bitter  enemy's  secret 
writing  in  a  private  manuscript,  it  would  hardly  take  fifteen  days  to 
complete  a  strangulation  ;  nor,  if  one  died  that  length  of  time  after  an 
actual  encounter,  was  it  ever  by  the  laws  of  any  country  considered  more 
than  an  accident.  William,  the  forefather  of  the  present  legitimated 
Ulbsters,  fell  sick  in  some  ordinary  way ;  and  the  Gordon  family  of 
Sutherland,  as  usual,  made  capital  of  scandal  out  of  his  decease,  for  hatred 
of  Earl  George,  whom  they  had  wronged,  it  must  be  said,  somewhat  to 
their  cost,  in  his  day. 

On  page  177  Sir  Robert  describes  the  earl  as  "the  unnatural  destroyer 
and  scourger  of  his  own  children"  the  transition  from  singular  to  plural 
easy  for  the  arrant  liar.  Two  pages  follow  with  imaginary  evil  designs, 
which  only  Sir  Robert's  own  devilish  ingenuity  created,  on  libellous 
cowardly  paper  of  1630,  the  treachery  printed  in  1813.  Earl  George,  he 
says,  caused  John  Gordon,  Earl  of  Sutherland,  Sir  Robert's  grandfather, 
to  be  made  away  with,  a  doubtful  tale  of  poisoning  at  Helmsdale  Castle ; 
and  as  guardian  of  the  only  son,  Alexander  Gordon,  and  only  daughter, 
Margaret  Gordon,  he  was  to  marry  the  latter  to  his  son  William  Sinclair, 
and  despatch  Alexander,  so  that  William  should  be  Earl  of  Sutherland ! 
He  was  to  kill  the  Mackay  ruling  family  of  Strathnaver,  and  make  his  third 
son  George  Sinclair  lord  there !  His  eldest,  the  Master,  was  to  be  made 
justiciary  of  Sutherland  and  Caithness !  So  go  Sir  Robert's  evil  dreams, 
which  answer  themselves,  the  last  "  design  "  being  surely  very  useless,  since 
the  state  records  show  the  Earl  and  the  Master  of  Caithness  in  possession 
of  the  justiciaryship  from  Bonar  Bridge  to  John  O'Groats.  Gordon  was  a 
monomaniac  in  revenging  what  he  foolishly  considered  his  father  Earl 
Alexander's  wrongs,  inflicted  by  Earl  George,  the  ward  being  the  real 
transgressor  in  breaking  that  legal  relationship,  universally  accepted  by  the 
lieges.  He  even  gloats  on  the  tale  that  in  1588  Wick  was  burnt  by  John 
Mac-Gilchalm  of  Rasay,  and  the  ashes  of  Earl  George's  heart,  in  a  leaden 
case,  strewed  by  the  cateran  from  the  isles  to  the  winds  of  heaven.  As  Earl 
George  died  in  1583,  the  ashes  must  have  been  imaginary.     It  is  not  worth 


4  i  CAITHNESS 

discussing  a  madman's  one  idea,  the  bare  extracts  full  proof  of  the  insanity 
of  his  unreasonable  malevolence,  none  the  less  that  the  Caithness  family 
were  near  relatives  by  several  ties  to  the  Gordons.  Stabbing  in  the  back  is 
nothing  by  way  of  treachery  to  his  writing ;  excess  defeating  him,  however, 
of  his  revenge  with  cultivated  posterity,  who  cannot  for  a  moment  accept 
his  monstrosities,  himself  the  monster  by  trying  to  blacken  established 
honour  and  renown  with  falsehood.  That  a  statesman  like  Earl  George,  a 
constant  member  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland,  then  equivalent  to 
what  is  now  the  Cabinet  or  Ministry,  and  a  man  versed  as  justiciary  in  the 
daily  administration  of  civil  and  criminal  law,  should  indulge  in  melodra- 
matic "designs,"  is  a  mere  superstition  of  the  canting,  cowardly,  and  cruel 
hypocrite  that  Sir  Robert  Gordon  always  becomes  when  he  touches 
Sinclair  themes.  On  other  subjects  he  is  sane  and  useful.  The  earl  is 
vindicated  with  success  from  the  historian's  defamation  in  the  Celtic 
Magazine  for  1887,  by  a  lawyer  without  personal  prejudice  of  relationship 
or  interest. 

John  Gait,  the  novelist,  in  his  "  Autobiography,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  238,  has 
this  : — "  The  '  Entail,'  which  is  supposed  to  be  among  the  best  of  my 
novels,  is  founded  on  a  family  anecdote  related  by  a  friend.  The  characters 
are  selected  according  to  my  own  liking,  but  the  tale  is  true,  and  except  in 
incidental  circumstances  deserves  to  be  considered  a  kind  of  history  in 
private  life.  The  sunny  summer  storm  and  shipwreck,  described  as  con- 
summating the  fate  of  the  last  heir  of  entail,  were  introduced  to  allow  of  a 
description  of  the  northern  coast  which  I  received  from  Miss  Sinclair,  the 
daughter  of  the  celebrated  baronet.  I  never  was  myself  near  that  part  of 
the  coast  in  which  the  scene  is  laid,  but  I  have  been  frequently  assured  it 
is  correctly  given,  as  well  as  some  other  Highland  circumstances  alluded  to 
in  the  book."  The  "Autobiography"  of  this  Scottish  novelist,  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  reputed  second,  of  wide  European,  Asiatic,  and  American  travel 
and  conversance  in  practical  and  political  affairs,  was  published  in  1833 ; 
and  Miss  Sinclair  to  whom  he  refers  was  Catherine,  the  novelist,  daughter 
of  Sir  John  of  Thurso  Castle,  the  agriculturist.  As  she  was  directly 
descended  from  William  Sinclair,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  victim  of 
Girnigoe  tragedy,  so  intelligent  a  family's  traditions  deserve  special  atten- 


EVENTS.  45 

tion.      Her   communications   about   Caithness   history   are   of  a   peculiar 
character,  and  demand  place. 

After  bringing  some  of  his  characters  to  Wick,  for  sea-bathing  and 
change  of  scene,  Gait  sets  them  to  making  little  excursions  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, thus  recounted  : — li  The  objects  they  visited  and  the  tales  and 
traditions  of  the  country  were  alike  new  and  interesting  to  the  whole  party  ; 
and  it  was  agreed  that  before  leaving  Wick  the  gentleme,n  should  conduct 
the  ladies  to  some  of  the  remarkable  spots  which  they  had  themselves 
visited,  among  other  places  Girnigoe  Castle,  the  ancient  princely  abode  of 
the  Earls  of  Caithness,  the  superb  remains  of  which  still  obtain  additional 
veneration,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  from  the  many  guilty  and  gloomy 
traditions  that  fear  and  fancy  have  exaggerated  in  preserving  the  imperfect 
recollection  of  its  early  history."  Donald  Gunn,  "the  worthy  dominie 
of  Wick,"  agreed  to  act  as  guide.  "  The  party  reached  the  peninsula  on 
which  the  princely  ruins  of  the  united  castles  of  Girnigoe  and  Sinclair  are 
situated.  The  long  grass  on  the  bartisans  and  window-sills  of  the  ruins 
streamed  and  hissed  in  the  wind." 

Their  guide  "  related  to  them  the  mournful  legends  of  those  solitary 
towers.  But  although  he  dwelt  with  particular  emphasis  on  the  story  of 
the  bishop  whom  one  of  the  Earls  of  Caithness  [before  the  Sinclairs]  had 
ordered  his  vassals  to  boil  in  a  cauldron,  on  account  of  his  extortions,  their 
sympathy  was  more  sorrowfully  awakened  by  the  woeful  fate  of  the  young 
[45]  Master  of  Caithness,  who  in  1576  fell  a  victim  to  the  jealousy  of  his 
father.  At  that  time  George  the  Earl  was  with  his  son  the  Master  of 
Caithness  on  the  leet  of  the  lovers  of  Euphemia,  the  only  daughter  of  an 
ancestor  of  Lord  Reay.  The  lady  was  young  and  beautiful,  and  naturally 
preferred  the  son  to  the  father.  But  the  earl  was  a  haughty  baron,  and  in 
revenge  for  his  son  proving  a  more  thriving  wooer,  was  desirous  of  putting 
him  for  a  season  out  of  the  way,  but  not  by  the  dirk,  as  the  use  and  wont 
of  that  epoch  of  rule  might  have  justified.  Accordingly,  one  afternoon  as 
they  were  sitting  together  in  the  hall  at  yonder  architraved  window  in  the 
second  storey,  the  wrathful  earl  clapped  his  hands  thrice,  and  in  came  three 
black-aviced  kerns  in  rusted  armour,  who,  by  a  signal  harmonised  between 
them  and  Earl  George,  seized  the  lawful  heir,  and  dragged  him  to  a  dampish 


46  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

captivity  in  that  vault  of  which  you  may  see  the  yawning  hungry  throat  in 

the  chasm  between  the  two  principal  buildings Soon  after  the 

imprisonment  of  his  son,  the  earl  being  obliged  to  render  attendance  at  the 
court  of  Stirling,  left  his  son  in  the  custody  of  Murdo  Mackean  Roy,  who 
on  the  departure  of  his  master  was  persuaded  by  the  prisoner  to  connive  at 
a  plan  for  his  escape.  But  the  plot  was  discovered  by  William,  the  earl's 
second  son,  who  apprehended  Murdo,  and  executed  him  on  the  instant. 
Immediately  afterwards  he  went  down  into  the  dungeon,  and  threatened  his 
brother  also  with  immediate  punishment,  if  he  again  attempted  to  corrupt 
his  keepers.  The  indignant  young  nobleman,  though  well  ironed,  sprang 
upon  Lord  William,  and  bruised  him  with  such  violence  that  he  soon  after 
died.  David  and  Ingram  Sinclair  were  then  appointed  custodiers  of  the 
prisoner,  but  availing  themselves  of  the  absence  of  the  earl  and  the 
confusion  occasioned  by  the  death  of  William,  they  embezzled  the  money  in 
the  castle,  and  fled,  leaving  their  young  lord  in  the  dungeon  a  prey  to  the 
horrors  of  hunger,  of  which  he  died.  About  seven  years  after,  the  earl, 
while  he  lamented  the  fatal  consequences  of  his  own  rash  rivalry,  and 
concealed  his  thirst  for  revenge,  having  heard  that  Ingram  Sinclair,  who 
had  retired  with  his  booty  to  a  distant  part  of  the  county,  intended  to 
celebrate  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  a  great  feast,  resolved  to  make 
the  festival  the  scene  of  punishment.  Accordingly,  with  a  numerous  retinue, 
he  proceeded  to  hunt  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ingram's  residence,  and 
availing  himself  of  the  hospitable  courtesies  of  the  time,  he  entered  the 
banquet  hall,  and  slew  the  traitor  in  the  midst  of  his  guests." 

It  was  not  the  Master's  father  but  his  son,  also  Earl  George,  who  had 
connection  with  the  death  of  Ingram ;  and  the  lady  novelist's  imagination 
has  added  other  fictional  touches,  especially  of  the  love  kind,  to  the  bare 
facts  of  history ;  but  there  are  many  marks  of  real  knowledge  in  certain 
parts  of  what  wTas  thus  transmitted  down  in  the  Ulbster  house's  traditions. 
Captain  Kennedy's  further  narrative,  illustrated  by  existing  state  records, 
will  enable  just  views  to  be  fixed  at  last  about  the  so-called  tragedies  of 
Girnigoe  Castle. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
REVENGE     OR    JUSTICE. 

"  George,  the  fifth  earl,  was  sent  abroad  by  his  grandfather, 
and  educated  in  Sweden,  between  which  country  and  Caithness 
there  was  in  those  days  a  good  deal  of  intermarriage  and 
friendly  intercourse,  many  of  the  name  of  Sinclair  settled  in 
Sweden  ever  since  that  period.  One  of  their  descendants  was 
the  unfortunate  Colonel  Sinclair,  assassinated  in  Germany  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  while  on  a  secret  and  confidential 
mission.  See  "The  Annual  Register"  [1739].  On  the  death 
of  George,  the  fourth  earl,  at  Edinburgh,  in  1583,  his  grandson 
and  heir  having  returned  from  Sweden,  and  having  taken 
possession  of  his  estate  and  dignity,  took  a  disgust  to  Castle 
Girnigoe  as  the  scene  of  his  father's  tragical  sufferings.  He 
began  to  build  the  more  modern  and  elegant  mansion  of  Castle 
Sinclair  in  its  vicinity,  meanwhile  setting  up  house  at  Keiss 
Castle  on  the  opposite  side  of  Sinclair  Bay,  whence  he  could 
see  every  day  how  his  improvements  at  Castle  Sinclair  were 
ofoino:  on. 

"  In  the  meantime  Ingram  and  David  Sinclair,  who  were 
well  known  to  have  treated  the  earl's  father  with  great  cruelty 


48  CAITHNESS 

while  he  was  under  their  charge,  and  were  generally  reported 
and  believed  to  have  put  a  period  to  his  existence  in  the  manner 
above  related,  had  removed  from  Castle  Girnigoe  on  the  death 
of  the  old  earl.  In  his  employment  it  is  said  that  they,  and 
particularly  Ingram,  had  amassed  a  very  considerable  sum  of 
money,  and  had  settled  themselves,  Ingram  at  Wester,  two 
miles  to  the  south  of  the  young  earl's  residence  at  Keiss,  and 
David  at  Milton,  about  a  mile  to  the  west  of  Wick.  Whether 
it  happened  that  there  was  no  positive  proof  of  John  Garrow 
having  been  despatched  in  the  manner  reported  above,  or  that 
the  young  earl  for  other  reasons  best  known  to  himself  declined 
any  investigation  into  the  circumstances  of  his  father's  death, 
notwithstanding  his  silence  and  his  appearing  to  be  in  habits  of 
friendly  intercourse  with,  the  reputed  perpetrators,  he  had  in  his 
own  mind  determined  on  ample  vengeance. 

"  Some  time  after  the  earl  had  established  himself  at 
Keiss,  Ingram  Sinclair,  the  elder  brother,  who  resided  at 
Wester,  had  a  daughter  who  was  to  be  married,  and  some  days 
before  the  marriage  he  asked  his  chief  to  honour  them  with  his 
presence  at  the  wedding,  to  which  he  agreed.  On  the  morning 
of  the  wedding  day,  when  the  two  brothers  and  their  friends 
and  relatives  were  assembled  at  Wester  previous  to  the  cere- 
mony, and  were  waiting  the  earl's  arrival,  they  observed  him 
and  his  retinue  coming  along  the  links  of  Keiss.  To  show 
respect  for  his  lordship,  Ingram  went  down  to  receive  and  meet 
him  at  his  crossing  of  the  river,  which  is  about  three  hundred 
yards  below  the  House  of  Wester  The  wedding  folks  were  all 
left  standing  outside  at  the  end  of  the  house.       The  earl  and 


EVENTS.  49 

his  suite  were  mounted  on  horseback,  and  his  lordship,  according 
to  the  fashion  of  those  days,  had  a  pair  of  pistols  of  exquisite 
workmanship  in  his  holster  cases.  He  valued  them  much,  and 
called  them  his  black  corbies  or  ravens.  Ingram  had  seen  the 
pair  before  on  his  visits  to  the  earl's  house  at  Keiss.  On  their 
meeting  at  the  water  side,  after  the  ordinary  compliments  and 
while  Ingram  was  walking  up  at  his  lordship's  feet  towards  the 
house,  the  earl  said  to  him,  drawing  out  one  of  his  pistols, 
'  What  think  you,  Ingram  ?  One  of  my  corbies  missed  fire  this 
morning.'  '  I  wonder  much,  my  lord,  at  that,'  replied  Ingram, 
'  for  they  seem  to  be  of  a  very  superior  kind.'  *  I  thought  so 
too,'  said  his  lordship,  •  and  shall  be  much  disappointed  if  they 
fail  me  now,  in  inflicting  punishment  where  it  has  been  long 
and  justly  due.'  At  the  same  time  he  fired  the  pistol  and  laid 
the  unfortunate  Ingram  dead  at  his  horse's  feet.  The  surprise 
of  the  company  who  beheld  this  scene  may  be  more  easily  con- 
ceived than  described.  All  took  to  their  heels,  or  endeavoured 
to  hide  themselves  as  they  best  could,  not  knowing  where  a 
business  thus  beo-un  mi^ht  terminate.  David  Sinclair,  the 
other  brother,  having  instantly  mounted  his  horse,  took  the 
road  homewards  to  his  own  house  at  Milton  ;  but,  being  hotly 
pursued  by  the  earl  and  his  attendants,  was  overtaken  on  the 
hill  of  Reiss,  and  despatched  in  a  similar  manner  to  what 
Ingram  had  been.  Judging  that  he  had  thus  appeased  the 
manes  or  ghost  of  John  Garrow,  the  earl  after  this  returned 
deliberately  along  the  sands  to  his  castle  at  Keiss.  Whether  it 
was  owing  to  the  earl's  superior  interest,  or  to  the  general 
odium  under  which  these  unfortunate  brothers  had  fallen  for 


50  CAITHNESS 

their  treatment  of  his  lordship's  father,  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  inquiry  was  ever  instituted  into  the  circumstances  of  their 
death. 

"  It  has  been  said  that  at  the  instant  of  time  when  the 
scene  was  acted,  the  bride  and  her  maidens  were  sportively 
amusing  themselves,  on  the  grass,  examining  and  trying  on  the 
ring  which  was  to  be  used  in  the  approaching  ceremony.  In 
the  alarm  and  bustle  caused  by  this  tragical  and  unexpected 
event,  the  ring  was  dropped  to  the  ground  by  some  one  of 
them,  and  as  may  naturally  be  supposed  was  little  thought  of 
or  enquired  about  at  the  moment.  Be  this  as  it  may,  certain  it 
is  that  lately  a  very  curious  and  antique  hoop  ring  was  picked 
up  at  Wester,  in  planting  potatoes  near  this  spot.  It  is  of  the 
purest  gold  wire  curiously  twisted  together,  the  exact  represen- 
tation of  a  serpent  coiled  into  a  circle  with  its  tail  in  its  mouth. 
This  was  the  symbol  adopted  by  the  ancient  Egyptians  in  their 
hieroglyphics  for  representing  what  was  eternal  or  perpetual,  a 
circle  beino^  from  its  nature  without  end.  Such  a  figure  for  a 
wedding  ring  might  very  naturally  be  construed  into  an  emblem 
of  endless  and  perpetual  love  and  affection.  The  ring  is  now 
[1814]  in  the  hands  of  Captain  Robert  Kennedy,  residing  at 
Wester,  and  weighs  something  more  than  ten  pennyweights,  or 
value  to  nearly  two  guineas. 

"  There  is  a  tradition  current  among  the  people  of  the  district 
that,  on  the  earl's  return  from  Sweden,  Ingram,  fearful  of  being 
called  to  account  for  his  intromissions  with  the  old  earl's  affairs, 
and  suspecting  that  he  might  in  some  forcible  or  short-handed 
manner    be    deprived    of  the    money  which   he    had    gathered 


EVENTS.  51 

together  during  his  administration,  came  to  the  resolution  some 
time  before  his  death  to  conceal  it  under  ground.  The  soil  for 
about  five  hundred  yards  to  the  westward  of  the  House  of 
Wester  is  corn  land,  at  the  extremity  of  which  it  is  bounded  by  a 
rising  ground,  which  intercepts  the  view  from  the  house  farther 
westward.  It  may  be  about  two  hundred  yards  more  from  the 
highest  point  of  this  ridge,  which  then  slopes  westward,  to  the 
edge  of  a  deep  and  extensive  moss.  It  is  said  that  Ingram, 
having  wrapped  up  his  money  in  a  raw  hide,  took  the  precaution 
of  locking  up  his  family  and  servants  to  prevent  their  discover- 
ing what  he  was  about.  From  a  hole  in  the  barn  door,  however, 
he  was  watched  by  his  man-servant  going  west,  with  his  bundle 
on  his  back  and  a  spade  in  his  hand,  till  the  rising  ground  pre- 
vented seeing  how  far  he  went.  Judging  from  the  time  he  had 
been  absent,  as  well  as  from  some  moss  which  was  observed 
sticking  to  the  spade,  it  was  concluded  that  he  had  gone  no 
farther  than  the  edge  of  the  moss.  It  is  very  likely  that 
Ingram's  money  lies  there  snugly,  and  perhaps  may  continue  to 
do  so  until  the  last  day.  It  is  further  said  that  every  day  after, 
until  his  death,  he  was  seen  taking  a  daily  walk  westward  to 
the  rising  ground,  in  all  probability  to  satisfy  himself,  without 
going  to  the  exact  spot  where  it  lay,  that  his  hoard  was  safe 
and  undiscovered." 


The  register  of  the   great   seal  authenticates  and,   to   some   degree, 
rationalises    this    tragical    tale.      King    James    VI.    at    Holyroodhouse 
Edinburgh,  of  date  19th  May,  1585,  gave  letters  of  remission  for  the  deeds 
to  George,  Earl  of  Caithness  ;  James  Sinclair,  the  Master  of  Caithness,  his 


52  CAITHNESS 

brother  ;  David  their  brother  ;  Matthew,  son  of  the  deceased  David  Sinclair 
of  Dunn  ;  John,  son  of  the  deceased  Mr  William  Sinclair,  rector  of  Olrig  ; 
Archibald,  Thomas,  James,  George,  and  Alexander  Hepburn  ;  George 
Manson  ;  William  Manson  or  Rorison  ;  Donald  Groat ;  Donald  Sutherland, 
son  of  Angus  Hectorson  ;  James  Paxton,  servant  of  the  Master  of 
Caithness ;  James  and  George  Mullikin  ;  Thomas  Manson,  son  of  the 
deceased  William  Manson  in  Field  ;  John  Hay  ;  John  Waterston  ;  William 
Taylor  ;  Malcolm  Alexanderson  ;  Edward  Jameson,  servants  of  the  Earl  ; 
and  others,  their  comrades.  The  letters  were  to  last  for  their  lifetime,  and 
freed  them  from  all  responsibility  for,  among  other  things,  "  art  and  part  of 
the  slaughters  of  Ingram  and  David  Sinclair,  brothers,  in  the  month  of 
February,  1584." 

In  a  note  to  No.  XII.  of  "  The  Bruce-Caithness  MSS."  this  pardon  is 
discussed,  as  well  as  some  notices  of  Ingram  Sinclair  in  the  extensive 
contract  of  which  that  No.  is  composed.  Sir  Robert  Douglas's  "  Peerage  " 
is  referred  to  for  the  date  of  Earl  George's  birth,  namely  1565  ;  so  that  he 
was  about  nineteen  when  these  real  tragedies  took  place.  It  is  new  that 
he  spent  some  of  his  youth  in  Sweden,  which  even  increases  the  similarity 
between  his  mission  and  Hamlet's,  if  he  revenged  his  father's  death.  But 
the  number  of  county  gentlemen  and  ordinary  individuals  involved,  suggests 
a  fatal  broil  rather  than  his  personal  action,  though  as  earl  and  justiciary 
he  was  technically  liable  for  slaughter  by  his  own  company  or  by  others. 
On  no  other  grounds  can  it  be  understood  that  the  king's  pardon  was 
so  easy  and  so  early,  Scottish  history  showing  numerous  examples  of 
punishment  to  life  and  forfeiture  of  lands  for  slaughter  even  by  the  highest 
nobles.  Besides,  Ingram  was  the  laird  of  Blingery,  now  containing  261 
acres  arable  and  2560  acres  pasture,  had  tacks  of  the  vicarages  or  tithes  of 
Bower  and  Watten,  held  a  wadset  from  Knappo  barony,  Wick,  had  been 
master  of  the  household  or  chamberlain  at  Girnigoe  Castle,  and  a  person  of 
such  importance  otherwise  that  his  death  could  not  be  hushed  up  or 
overlooked  in  any  way,  even  if  it  had  not  been  accentuated  by  that  of  his 
brother  David.  Both  of  them  were  witnesses  to  the  charter  of  Canisbay, 
etc.,  given  to  the  young  earl's  uncle  William,  dated  Girnigoe  Castle,  1st 
March,  1572,  Ingram  adding  to  his  name,  "  of  Blingery."     In  the  contract 


EVENTS.  53 

MS.  XII.  already  mentioned,  of  date  Kircaldy  and  Girnigoe,  24th  July  and 
30th  December,  1595,  to  which  George,  the  fifth  earl,  was  a  party,  not  only 
is  the  "deceased  Ingram  Sinclair  of  Blingery  "  mentioned,  but  also  his  heirs, 
Earl  George  promising  to  respect  their  rights  as  given  by  his  uncle  George 
of  Mey.  If  Lord  Maxwell  was  executed  for  the  slaughter  of  a  gentleman, 
to  take  an  example,  this  same  Earl  George  as  justiciary  delivering  him  up, 
though  a  relative,  so  stern  was  the  law,  to  justice  at  Edinburgh,  how  could 
he  have  himself  gone  scot-free,  if  he  had  killed  with  his  own  hands,  as 
Calder  says  too  dramatically,  these  important  brothers  ?  Archibald  Hep- 
burn was  the  earl's  master  of  the  household  when  the  events  happened, 
and  as  Queen  Mary's  Hepburn,  the  Earl  of  Bothwell  and  Duke  of  Orkney, 
was  Earl  George's  maternal  uncle,  the  Hepburns  perhaps  were  characteris- 
tically ready  to  revenge  the  death  of  John,  Master  of  Caithness,  husband  of 
Lady  Jean  Hepburn.  But  probabilities  need  not  be  put,  the  incidents  of  a, 
brawl  quite  enough  to  account  for  what  is  absolutely  known  of  the  histori- 
cal facts  and  of  their  sequences.  See  the  notes  to  "  The  Bruce-Caithness 
MSS."  for  further  treatment,  not  only  of  these  slaughters,  but  of  the 
Master's  decease  in  Girnigoe  Castle,  then  the  busy  centre  of  the  affairs  of 
Caithness  and  Sutherland ;  his  father  the  justiciary,  and  all  deeds  open  to 
the  criticism  of  a  daily  crowd,  learned  and  unlearned,  of  an  average  at  least 
up  to  200  or  300.  It  is  not  in  such  a  scene  that  judicial  murder  of  an 
earl's  heir  could  take  place,  at  first  or  second  hand,  by  salt  beef,  starvation, 
surfeit,  or  other  mythical  method ;  though  the  two  brothers  may,  none  the 
less,  have  been  most  blameworthy  as  guardians,  and  deserved  their  fate,  in 
the  unpremeditated  way  it  seems  to  have  overtaken  them,  putting  melodrama 
to  one  side.  The  earl's  brother  James,  at  the  fight  a  youth  of  seventeen, 
and  then  Master  of  Caithness,  is  the  forefather  of  the  Murkle  and  Broynach 
family,  who  are  now  heads  of  the  house  of  Sinclair,  and  represented  by 
James,  the  present  rightful  Earl  of  Caithness,  aged  28,  and  unmarried. 

About  the  Swedish  Sinclair  of  "  The  Annual  Register,"  there  is  very 
definite  knowledge  in  the  Scots  Magazine,  vols.  i.  and  ii.,  especially  a  letter 
by  the  Czarina  Ann,  who  reigned  over  Russia  from  1730  to  1740,  entered 
thus  under  the  heading  "  Foreign  History  :  " — "  Her  Czarian  majesty  very 
warmly  resents  the  report  about  Baron  Sinclair,  who  was  carrying  despatches 


54  CAITHNESS 

from  Constantinople  to  Stockholm,  being  murdered  by  two  officers  in 
Russian  pay,  and  the  following  is  the  extract  of  an  order  from  the  czarina, 
dated  July  3rd,  1/39,  old  style,  and  sent  to  her  ministers  at  foreign  courts : 
— '  We  are  very  much  surprised  to  hear  of  the  rumour  at  Berlin  concerning 
the  murder  of  Sinclair,  a  Swedish  officer,  as  if  it  had  been  committed  by 
two  of  our  officers.  We  have  thought  fit  to  order  all  our  ministers  at 
foreign  courts  to  declare  in  our  name  that,  so  far  from  having  any  hand  in, 
or  any  sort  of  concern  with,  so  base  an  action,  if  it  really  was  committed  in 
the  manner  reported,  we  have  an  abhorrence  of  a  crime  so  detestable.  As 
it  has  been  committed  on  the  limits  of  Silesia  and  Lusatia,  we  have  thought 
it  necessary  to  request  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  King  of  Poland  that 
they  would  please  to  order  diligent  search  to  be  made  for  those  malefactors, 
in  order  to  punish  them.  But  we  cannot  imagine  that  any  of  our  subjects 
have  so  far  forgot  themselves  as  to  do  such  an  enormous  crime.  Yet  we 
declare  that  we  will  use  all  endeavours  imaginable  to  discover  those  crimi- 
nals, and  to  give  them  exemplary  punishment,  in  order  to  discover  to  the 
whole  world  how  much  Ave  abhor  such  action,  equally  base  and  abominable, 
it  being  our  intention  to  cultivate  good  harmony  and  friendship  with 
Sweden.' 

"  The  Summary  of  Public  Affairs,"  has,  "  Sweden  is  at  present  a  very 
divided  kingdom,  distinguished  into  three  factions — one  in  the  interest  of 
their  country ;  one  in  favour  of  Germany  and  Russia,  which  gives  most 
uneasiness  to  the  whole  state ;  another  obsequious  to  the  dictates  of  a 
certain  eminent  political  cardinal.  After  the  death  of  Major  Sinclair,  affairs 
at  Stockholm  seemed  to  be  greatly  perplexed,  and  the  preparations  on  the 
side  of  Finland  have  not  been  prosecuted  with  much  vigour.  The  reader 
may  not  be  displeased,  in  this  place,  with  the  inscription  which  his  Swedish 
majesty  has  caused  to  be  written  on  the  tomb  of  the  unfortunate  Sinclair, 
in  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas,  Stralsund  : — '  Here  lies  Major  Malcolm 
Sinclair,  a  good  and  faithful  subject  of  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  born  in 
1691,  son  of  the  most  worthy  Major-General  Sinclair  and  Madame  de 
Hamilton.  The  events  of  his  life  were  very  singlar  and  remarkable.  He 
was  prisoner  of  war  in  Siberia  from  the  year  1709  to  1722.  Being  charged 
with  a  commission  to  execute  some  affairs  of  state,  he  was,  on  the  17th  of 


EVENTS.  55 

June,  1739,  in  an  execrable  manner,  assassinated  near  Naumbourg,  in 
Silesia.  Reader  drop  some  tears  upon  this  tomb,  and  consider  with  thyself 
how  incomprehensible  are  the  destinies  of  poor  mortals.'  " 

In  Pitcairn's  "  Criminal  Trials  "  a  series  of  despatches  by  George,  the 
fifth  earl,  to  the  government,  are  fully  printed,  the  first  dated  26th  August, 
1614,  when  he  was  suppressing  the  Stuart  family  of  Orkney.  They  indi- 
cate, by  his  description  of  the  taking  of  Kirkwall  Castle,  that  he  was  a 
professional  soldier,  trained  in  Sweden  when  young.  As  that  book  is  scarce 
and  expensive,  the  letters  form  part  of  the  appendix  within.  Earl  George 
wrote  readily,  as  can  be  gathered  also  from  the  "  History  of  Sutherland  " 
by  his  personal  enemy  Sir  Robert  Gordon.  The  earl,  p.  331,  writes  in 
1616  to  Huntly  that  Gordon  and  Mackay,  to  destroy  his  house  by  treason, 
were  slandering  him  with  burning  Sandside  corn,  as  in  1612  about  Smith 
the  coiner.  In  1621  he  wrote  the  privy  council,  p.  371,  that  he  had  no 
part  in  Lyndsay's  slaughter ;  the  reason  of  not  coming  to  Edinburgh  on 
summons,  his  fear  of  imprisonment  by  creditors.  When  Sir  Robert 
obtained  king's  commission  in  1623  to  seize  him,  the  earl  sent  him  message 
that  he  could  be  accused  of  nothing  except  civil  liabilities ;  that  all  crimes 
laid  to  his  charge  were  mere  calumnies ;  and  that  he  was  the  first  noble- 
man proclaimed  rebel  or  traitor  for  debt,  without  any  criminal  cause  proved 
judicially  against  him.  Since  his  succession  in  1583,  he  had  been  intent  on 
recovering  the  diocese's  justiciary,  regality,  and  perhaps  coinage,  reduced 
by  his  aged  predecessor's  underholders,  Earl  Keith,  Lord  Oliphant,  and 
Lord  Sutherland.  He  bought  them  out  of  Caithness  proper,  but  latterly 
Lord  Sutherland,  Mackay  afterwards  Lord  Reay,  and  Lord  Forbes,  through 
the  last  getting  Dunbeath's  lands  by  death-bed  will,  ruined  Earl  George, 
called  The  Wicked  only  by  his  foes.  Gunns  responsible  wholly  for  Sand- 
side  arson  wTere  the  instruments  used,  King  Jamie's  court  on  the  side  of  the 
spoilers. 

Reverting  to  chapter  iv.,  Hay's  "  Genealogy,"  p.  97,  "  I  leave  to  the 
coroner  a  horse,"  proves  the  massacre  after  1456. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

PEDIGREES,  CASTLES,  AND  THE  CAITHNESS  ESTATE. 

"  George,  the  fifth  earl,  was  married  to  Lady  Jean  Gordon, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  by  whom  he  had  William, 
Lord  Berriedale,  and  "  Mr."  [Hon.]  Francis  Sinclair,  who 
married  Lord  Maxwell's  daughter.  Earl  George  had  also,  by 
her,  two  daughters,  Lady  Isabel  married  to  the  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, and  Lady  Elizabeth  to  [Donald  the  first]  Lord  Reay.  He 
had  two  illegitimate  sons,  namely,  Francis  Sinclair  of  Stirkoke 
by  Barbara  Mearns,  and  by  a  woman  called  Jenny  Byre  he  had 
Colonel  John,  slain  in  Germany  [in  1632],  and  an  illegitimate 
daughter,  who  was  married  to  the  laird  of  Dunn.  William, 
Lord  Berridale,  married  a  daughter  of  Lord  Sinclair  of  Ravens- 
heugh  [Fifeshire],  by  whom  he  had  John,  Master  of  Caithness. 
John  married  Lady  Jean  Mackenzie,  daughter  to  Colin,  Earl  of 
Seaforth,  by  whom  he  had  George  Sinclair,  who  succeeded  his 
great-grandfather  as  sixth  Earl  of  Caithness  of  the  surname. 

"  When  [his  immediate  predecessor]  George,  the  fifth  earl, 
had  built  and  furnished  Castle  Sinclair,  he  went  to  reside  there  ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  he  and  his  son  William,  Lord  Berridale, 
who  lived  in  Wick  and  had  a  house  there,  the  remains  of  which 
were  lately  standing,  as  also  his  grandson  John,  the  Master  of 
Caithness,  all  continued  loyal  subjects  during  the  whole  of  the 


EVENTS.  57 

reigns  of  James  VI.,  Charles  I.,  and  the  subsequent  troubles. 
For  it  is  certain  that  Oliver  Cromwell  in  his  protectorate 
[1653-8]  had  converted  this  elegant  castle  into  a  barrack,  and 
kept  a  strong  garrison  there  to  overawe  the  county  of  Caith- 
ness, which  he  considered  as  ill-disposed  towards  him  and  his 
government.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  house  was  much 
abused  and  dilapidated  during  the  time  it  was  used  for  the 
above  purpose  ;  because  it  does  not  appear  that  any  of  the 
family  of  Caithness  took  up  their  residence  there  again,  even 
though  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  [in  1660]  had  put  them 
into  the  undisturbed  possession  of  their  estates  and  honours.  In 
confirmation  of  this,  George,  the  sixth  earl,  on  the  death  of  his 
great-grandfather  [1643]  fixed  his  residence  at  Thurso  Castle, 
the  present  seat  of  the  Right  Honourable  Sir  John  Sinclair, 
Baronet.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  during  those  trouble- 
some times  the  affairs  of  the  family  of  Caithness  had  fallen  into 
great  confusion,  more  especially  as  there  were  three  families  at 
one  and  the  same  time  living  on  the  estate.  These  were  the 
old  earl's  family,  his  son  William,  Lord  Berriedale's,  and  that 
of  his  grandson,  John,  Master  of  Caithness,  all  of  whom  had 
separate  establishments. 

"  George,  the  sixth  earl,  succeeded  to  the  title  in  1643, 
married  on  22nd  September,  1657,  Lady  Mary  Campbell, 
daughter  of  the  Marquis  of  Argyle,  and  set  up  house  at  Thurso 
Castle  ;  but  so  reduced  and  straitened  was  he  in  his  circum- 
stances, that  it  has  been  said  he  could  not  procure  to  the  value 
of  one  bottle  of  wine  on  his  credit  either  in  the  town  of  Wick 
or  of  Thurso.     Being  a  weak  sort  of  man,  and  very  unfit  for 

H 


58  CAITHNESS 

extricating  his  affairs  out  of  the  total  confusion  into  which  they 
had  fallen,  and  the  countess  having  represented  their  very 
distressed  situation  to  her  relative,  John  Campbell,  Lord 
Glenorchy,  lie  took  a  journey  to  Caithness  to  try  if  any  method 
could  be  devised  of  relieving  them  from  their  embarrassments. 
On  his  arrival,  he  found  the  earl  so  sunk  in  debt,  and  his 
affairs  in  such  inextricable  disorder,  that  he  saw  that  nothing 
better  could  be  done  than  expose  the  estate  to  sale,  and  thus 
perhaps  secure  something  for  his  relative  and  her  husband  out 
of  the  general  wreck  of  their  once  opulent  fortune.  Glenorchy, 
well  aware  of  the  clannish  disposition  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
county,  first  offered  the  estate  to  every  man  of  the  surname  of 
Sinclair  in  Scotland,  who  could  be  supposed  equal  to  such  a 
purpose,  and  who  would  become  bound  to  pay  the  debts,  and 
grant  the  earl  and  countess  a  decent  and  adequate  provision 
during  their  lives.  This  offer  was  made,  among  others,  to  Sir 
Robert  Sinclair  of  Longformacus,  Berwickshire  ;  but  neither  he 
nor  any  other  person  would  accept  on  those  terms. 

"  In  that  condition  of  affairs,  Campbell,  anxious  to  relieve 
his  relative  and  her  husband,  resolved  to  take  the  estate  to 
himself  with  all  its  burdens,  although  generally  considered  a 
losing  bargain,  by  paying  off  the  debts,  and  allowing  them  a 
comfortable  provision  during  their  joint  lives.  Accordingly,  a 
general  disposition  of  the  estate,  honours,  and  heritable  jurisdic- 
tions, such  as  sheriff,  provost  of  Wick,  etc.,  etc.,  was  made  out 
in  favour  of  Lord  Glenorchy.  As  he  generally  resided  at  his 
castle  of  Taymouth  in  Perthshire,  he  appointed  Sir  William 
Dunbar  to  be  his  sheriff- depute  and  sole  commissioner  for  the 


EVENTS.  59 

management  of  all  his  concerns  for  the  county  of  Caithness. 
But  although  this  gentleman  was  a  man  of  very  superior 
abilities,  conciliating  disposition,  and  regularly  bred  to  legal 
business,  and  used  his  utmost  efforts  to  reconcile  the  gentlemen 
of  the  county  to  their  new  superior,  yet  such  was  the  disgust 
and  umbrage  conceived  by  the  whole  clan  Sinclair  at  falling 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  Campbell  and  a  stranger,  that  Lord 
Glenorchy,  later,  Lord  Breadalbane,  with  his  commissioner, 
after  several  years'  trial,  found  it  impossible  to  have  himself 
acknowledged  as  the  superior  of  the  county,  or  even  to  recover 
the  rents  of  his  estate." 


In  his  "  Tour  through  Scotland,  1760,"  IJishop  Pococke  says,  "  I  went 
to  see  the  castles  of  Girnigoe  and  Sinclair,  the  first  situated  on  a  rock  over 
the  sea,  and  separated  from  the  land  by  a  deep  fosse,  over  which  there  was 
a  drawbridge.  The  other  is  close  to  it,  built  for  an  elder  son.  In  both 
of  them  are  several  apartments,  and  beyond  the  first  are  several  little 
courts  on  the  rocks.  Castle  Sinclair  was  built  in  the  time  of  Charles  the 
Second  [1660-85],  and  the  king's  arms  are  upon  it.  The  Sinclair  who 
built  it  was  the  last  earl  of  that  branch."  The  Kennedy  MS.  makes  George, 
the  fifth  earl,  not  George,  the  sixth,  as  here,  the  builder  of  this  new 
portion,  the  latter  being  certainly  the  last  of  his  particular  line,  and  living 
in  Charles  the  Second's  time.  It  is  possible  that  he  thus  crippled  his 
means,  so  as  to  fall  into  Glenorchy's  unscrupulous  and  selfish  hands.  The 
royal  arms  over  the  door  must  show  the  builder  to  have  been  a  royalist, 
and  perhaps  explains  the  Cromwellian  dilapidation  of  the  place.  In  the 
'  Duke  of  Lauderdale  MSS.'  of  the  British  Museum  a  letter  by  George, 
the  sixth  earl,  fully  explains  the  effect  of  the  civil  wars  on  his  mansions, 
"  I  can  give  account  of  £200,000  Scots  of  loss  I  sustained  by  Generals 
Middleton  and  Morgan  (who  immediately  followed  Middleton  here  to 
Caithness),  besides  the  burning  of  my  houses,  which  put  me  in  such  a 
condition  that  I  had  not  a  place  to  settle  myself  in  till  I  laid  out  a  thousand 


60  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

pounds  to  repair  the  house  I  live  in."  He  wrote  from  Thurso  Castle,  25th 
August,  16G1.  Middleton  was  for  Charles  II.,  and  Morgan  for  Cromwell, 
1654.  But  see  "  The  First  Contest  for  the  Earldom,"  where  there  is  ample 
information  not  only  as  to  these  castles  but  about  the  whole  invasion  of 
the  Caithness  estate  by  John  Campbell  of  Glenorchy,  Argyleshire. 

From  a  minute  book  of  Caithness  sasines  in  the  Register  House, 
Edinburgh,  beginning  26th  April,  16/5,  important  newr  facts  are  obtained 
thus  : — "  Wick,  12th  June,  16/6  :  Renunciation  by  Dame  Mary  Campbell, 
Countess  of  Caithness,  in  favour  of  John  Campbell  of  Glenorchy  ;  presented 
to  the  court  there  by  William  Campbell,  public-notary,  and  registered  on 
leaves  20,  21,  22  and  23."  Again,  "  Wick,  20th  June,  1676  :  Renunciation 
by  Laurence  Calder  of  Achlibster,  in  favour  of  Glenorchy,  of  the  halfpenny 
land  in  Strath  of  Bilbster,  Scorriclett,  and  Achlibster,  presented  by  William 
Campbell,  notary."  Those  Campbells  were  very  busy  in  the  county  for 
nearly  twenty  years  before  the  crisis  of  Altimarlach  arrived  in  1680,  when 
Glenorchy  had  assumed  the  title  of  Earl  of  Caithness,  signing  public 
documents  Caithness.  An  Edinburgh  action  was  led  22nd  July,  1687, 
by  Breadalbane  against  Dunbeath,  Sir  William  Dunbar,  etc.,  for  poinding 
mares  and  cows.  His  son  produced  at  Thurso  market-cross  receipts  that 
they  were  his,  but  would  not  swear  they  were  not  his  father  the  debtor's, 
and  a  messenger  auctioned  them  at  low  prices,  hence  spuilzie.  The  lords 
found  the  business  "  suspect  on  both  sides."  Campbell's  affairs  wTere  then 
"  perplexed."  Sir  James  Stamfield  adjudicated  him  in  1682  for  £4,500,  on 
which  in  March,  1707,  William  Innes,  W.S.,  claimed  his  estates,  only  saved 
through  an  allowance  by  the  lords  of  session  beyond  redemption  time  till 
5th  June.  The  Black  Book  of  Taymouth  shows  the  Campbells  at  too  low 
ebb  to  help  Earl  George,  a  diligent  statesman,  weak  solely  from  impecu- 
niosity.  In  1648  Dame  Elizabeth  Sinclair,  relict  of  the  seventh  laird, 
comprised  for  £40,000,  her  yearly  £2,602  13s.  4cl.,  Scots;  Sir  Charles 
Erskine  charged  for  £20,000  ;  Roger  Mowat,  £20,000  ;  John  Short,  £8,000. 
Spoil,  not  benevolence,  attracted  Glenorchy  north ;  his  marriage  to  the 
earl's  widow  on  7th  March,  1678,  policy. 


CHAPTER    X, 

BATTLE  OF  ALTIMARLACH. 

"  John  Campbell,  'Earl  of  Caithness/  was  under  the  necessity 
of  applying  to  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland  for  military 
assistance  for  putting  him  into  possession  of  his  rights  in 
Caithness.  The  government,  instead  of  issuing  orders  or 
sending  any  military  force  for  the  above  purpose,  granted  full 
powers  to  him  to  raise  his  own  clan  and  friends,  to  march  with 
them  into  Caithness,  and  to  put  himself  into  possession  vi  et 
armis  of  all  he  could  claim  or  had  a  right  to  in  that  county. 
Accordingly  his  lordship  having  collected  500  well-armed  men, 
set  out  at  their  head  from  Taymouth  Castle,  Perthshire,  to 
Caithness.  It  would  appear  that  although  the  Sinclairs  must 
have  been  well  aware  of  what  was  going  on,  yet  so  ill-concerted 
were  their  measures,  or  so  confident  were  they  of  their  own 
numbers  and  power  of  resistance,  that  they  had  taken  no 
previous  steps  to  ward  off  the  storm  coming  against  them.  They 
had  not  their  people  properly  trained  or  officered,  nor  did  they 
meet  the  balloch  men,  as  they  were  called,  at  their  entry  into 
the  county.  At  the  very  narrow  and  difficult  pass  of  the  Ord, 
they  might,  with  ordinary  generalship,  have  defeated  a  much 
superior  force  than  what  their  invaders  consisted  of.  The 
Campbells  marched  quietly  and  unmolested  into  the  county. 


62  CAITHNESS 

Their  opponents  being  assured  of  their  arrival,  and  having 
received  the  further  information  that  they  were  proceeding 
towards  Wick,  orders  were  issued  for  the  Caithnessmen  to 
collect  and  march  to  meet  the  enemy.  Having  assembled 
hastily  and  early  in  the  morning  [13th  July,  1680]  at  Castle 
Sinclair,  they  very  imprudently  marched  into  the  neighbouring 
town  of  Wick,  where  they  halted  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
forenoon,  till  they  could  obtain  sure  knowledge  of  the  enemy's 
motions.  It  is  said  that  during  this  interval  they  were  allowed 
not  only  to  recruit  their  spirits,  but  also  to  jumble  their  under- 
standings with  large  potations  of  whisky.  Intelligence  ha.ving 
come  in  that  Glenorchy  and  his  men  were  coming  down  the 
north  side  of  the  river  towards  Wick,  the  Caithnessmen  marched 
hurriedly  out  of  the  town  to  meet  them. 

"  The  only  man  who  appears  to  have  known  anything  of 
discipline  or  to  have  seen  any  real  service  was  Major  Sinclair  of 
Thura,  who  had  served  abroad  in  the  wars  of  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  in  Germany.  He  advised  deferring  the  engagement  until 
the  ensuing  day,  when  the  men  would  have  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  drink  and  gone  fresh  and  prepared  into  action.  But 
being  a  man  of  small  property  and  perhaps  of  inferior  family, 
his  opinion  was  overruled.  The  command  devolved  on  'Mr.' 
David  Sinclair,  brother  to  the  Earl  of  Caithness,  who  appears 
to  have  been  a  very  rash  and  inconsiderate  man.  As  he  was 
presumptive  heir  to  the  title,  Lord  Caithness  having  never  had 
any  issue  by  the  countess,  he  might  no  doubt  feel  galled  at 
seeing  the  estate  possessed  by  a  total  stranger  of  a  different  clan 
and  name. 


EVENTS.  63 

"  About  a  couple  of  miles  to  the  westward  of  the  town,  and 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Water  of  Wick,  there  is  a  small  rivulet 
which  runs  into  the  said  Water.  For  the  last  three  or  four 
hundred  yards  of  its  course  before  it  falls  into  the  river,  it  has 
formed  a  deep  and  wide  gully  or  ravine,  with  very  steep  almost 
perpendicular  clay  banks.  This  gully  is  known  by  the  name  of 
Altimarlach,  that  is,  The  Thieves'  Burn;  an  appellation  which, 
from  its  gloomy  and  retired  appearance,  it  is  not  improbable  it 
might  in  former  times  have  well  merited.  Here  the  two  parties 
met,  having  the  ravine  between  their  lines. 

"  As  the  battle  was  to  be  decided  by  the  broadsword,  the 
weapon  then  in  most  general  use,  Major  Sinclair  strongly 
recommended  his  countrymen  to  allow  the  Campbells  to  begin 
crossing  the  ravine,  and  to  fall  upon  them  when  engaged  in 
scrambling  up  the  steep  banks.  But  such  was  the  impetuosity 
of  the  Caithnessmen,  or  so  pot-valiant  had  their  halt  in  Wick 
rendered  them,  that  they  would  not  hear  of  this,  but  instantly 
began  crossing  the  burn  in  a  tumultuous  manner.  They  thus 
put  themselves  into  the  very  situation  in  which  Major  Sinclair 
wished  them  to  have  placed  their  opponents.  The  consequences 
of  this  injudicious  management  were  such  as  might  naturally 
have  been  expected.  The  Caithnessmen,  although  they  fought 
bravely,  were  hewn  down  by  the  Campbells  without  mercy,  as 
they  came  up  the  opposite  bank.  At  length  the  affair  having 
turned  into  a  complete  rout,  many  tried  to  save  themselves  by 
swimming  across  the  Water  of  Wick ;  but  the  river  being 
uncommonly  deep  at  that  place,  most  of  the  fugitives  were 
miserably  drowned  in  the  attempt.     Even  of  those  who  swam 


64  CAITHNESS 

few  escaped,  for  their  enemies  having  crossed  at  a  ford  a  little 
way  below  the  scene  of  action,  pursued  them  into  the  neighbour- 
ing moss  of  Bronzay,  where  they  slaughtered  them  mercilessly. 
Pieces  of  rusty  swords  and  of  broken  armour  have  been 
frequently  found  since  that  time  by  people  in  the  neighbourhood 
when  casting  their  peats.  Hon.  David  Sinclair,  Major  Sinclair 
of  Thura,  with  many  other  gentlemen,  and  a  great  number  of 
inferior  note  fell  in  the  action. 

"  When  the  foundation  of  the  new  church  of  Wick  was  dug 
out  a  few  years  ago,  there  was  discovered  a  vast  quantity  of 
human  bones,  which,  as  they  lay  in  one  place,  were  supposed  to 
be  the  bones  of  the  people  slain  in  this  fight.  A  great  part  of 
them  having  been  strangers  from  the  other  parishes  of  the 
county,  they  were  buried  promiscuously  together  in  a  heap,  in 
that  part  of  the  churchyard  allotted  for  the  burial  of  strangers 
and  of  people  not  belonging  to  the  parish  of  Wick. 

"  So  completely  was  Campbell's  authority  established  by 
this  battle,  that  he  continued  for  some  years  thereafter  to  uplift 
his  rents  and  exercise  his  office  of  sheriff  without  molestation 
or  opposition.  Sensible,  however,  that  this  seeming  submission 
was  more  the  effect  of  fear  than  attachment,  and  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Caithness  bore  them  no  good-will,  the  Campbells 
determined  to  sell  off  the  whole  estate  in  parcels  to  every  man 
who  had  money  to  purchase.  The  principal  purchasers  were 
John  Sinclair  of  Ulbster,  Sir  James  Sinclair  of  Dunbeath,  and 
Sir  William  Dunbar  of  Hempriggs.  The  first  was  grandfather 
of  the  present  Sir  John  Sinclair,  Baronet,  and,  along  with  a 
great  part  of  the   lands,  he  purchased  also  the  right  to  the 


EVENTS.  65 

heritable  jurisdictions  of  sheriff  of  Caithness  and  provost  of 
Wick.  His  son,  George  of  Ulbster,  obtained  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  from  government  in  compensation  when  hereditary 
jurisdictions  were  abolished  in  1747.  Sir  William  Dunbar  was 
great-grandfather  of  the  present  Sir  Benjamin  Dunbar,  Baronet. 
To  show  the  amazing  difference  which  the  course  of  a  century 
has  made  in  the  value  of  landed  property,  it  may  suffice  to 
mention  that  Sir  William  paid  only  100,000  merks  Scots  for  an 
estate  which  at  this  day,  in  1814,  is  let  at  above  £5000  sterling 
per  annum ;  so  that  he  had  it  for  little  more  than  one  year's 
purchase  of  the  present  rental.  When  the  Earl  of  Breadalbane 
sold  the  estate,  he  reserved  to  himself  a  right  of  residing  for  the 
space  of  six  weeks  every  year  in  all  time  coming  in  the  great 
hall  of  Ackergill  Tower ;  a  privilege  which  neither  his  lordship 
nor  any  of  his  successors  have  ever  asserted,  and  it  is  not 
probable  they  will  ever  claim  it,  their  connection  with  Caithness 
being  long  since  dissolved.  Were  his  present  lordship,  the 
Marquis  of  Breadalbane,  to  come  into  Caithness  to  claim  this 
right,  he  would  now  find  himself  but  ill  accommodated  in  this 
single  apartment.  It  is  still,  however,  kept  in  pretty  good 
repair,  and  is  in  point  of  size  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
spacious  rooms  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  being  24  feet  in 
length,  24  feet  wide,  and  36  feet  high  from  the  floor  to  the 
ceiling,  which  is  a  stone  arch  of  very  uncommon  and  curious 
construction." 


The  prolonged  buckram  style  of  Captain  Kennedy's  writing,  usually  in 
need  of  modification,  fits  military  narratives  very  well ;  and  his  account  of 
the  battle  of  Altimarlach  will  always  hold  its  place  as  particularly  engaging. 

i 


66  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

If  he  is  not  aware,  from  records  and  history,  of  the  exact  facts  and  dates 
and  plots,  he  gives  good  general  impression  of  affairs,  and  sometimes  starts 
entirely  new  points.     For  instance,  it  was  not  known  before  that  an  Hon. 
David   Sinclair  was  the  leader  of  the  Caithnessmen,  or  that  he  perhaps 
was  next,  and  only,  brother  of  George,  the  seventh  and  rightful  earl,  who 
stripped  John  Campbell  of  the  stolen  title  of  Caithness  in  1681.     That 
David  was  killed  might  be  enlightening,  and  might  account  for  the  earldom 
title  leaving  the  family  of  Colonel  Hon.  Francis  Sinclair  of  Northfield,  these 
two  sons  of  his  dead  without  issue,  and  going  to  the  Murkle-Broynach  line, 
John  of  whom  was  eighth  earl.     But  Northfield  had  not  a  second  son. 
The  suggestion  then  arises  that  this  Hon.  or  "Mr."  David  was  really  the 
Hon.   David  Sinclair  of  Broynach,   only  brother  of  Earl  John,  laird  of 
Murkle.     He  was  certainly  in  the  fight,  but  as  certainly  he  long  survived  it. 
Other   circumstances  mentioned  may  preclude  him  from   the   more  than 
doubtful  distinction  of  being  the  inconsiderate  leader  of  a  disastrous  day. 
Broynach's  burning  of  Girnigoe  Castle,   Thurso  Castle,  and  other  build- 
ings,   while   in   the   possession   of  Campbell,    shows   him   of   usually  far 
more  effective  temper   than   his  namesake  kinsman  of  similar   rank  and 
relationships.     But  the  two  Davids  are  one,  with  changes  of  military  luck. 
It   is   altogether   an   anomaly   if  George,    the    seventh  earl,  was  on   the 
field  contending  for  his  just  rights,  and  giving  the  command  to  his  junior 
brother  Hon.  David,  unless  the  one  was  a  professional  soldier  and  the  other 
not.     It  is  on  Captain  Kennedy's  authority  that  some  David's  generalship 
must  at  present  be  accepted  ;  and  the  captain,  though  manifestly  trustworthy 
as  far  as  possible  to  him,  is  not  always  right  in  his  statements.     The  subject 
needs   corroboration   for    final   acceptance,  if  there   is   nothing  inherently 
improbable  in  what  is  said. 

Campbell  had  royal  permission  to  form  a  force  of  700,  strengthened  by 
a  paid  company  of  the  king's  troops  under  General  Dalzell,  while  George 
Sinclair  of  Keiss,  the  rightful  Earl  of  Caithness,  could  collect  only  400  to 
oppose  those  Campbells  of  Argyleshire  and  Perthshire,  with  the  above 
unhappy  result.  See  "  The  First  Contest  for  the  Earldom  "  in  the  Northern 
Ensign,  which  has  exhaustive  details  on  the  various  events  here  touched. 


CHAPTER    XI. 
THE  BREAD ALBANE  RIGHTS  IN  CAITHNESS. 

u  When  Lord  Breadalbane  sold  the  Caithness  estate  in  parcels, 
as  mentioned,  many  of  the  purchasers  entertained  a  doubt  about 
the  validity  of  the  right  acquired  from  George,  the  sixth  Earl 
of  Caithness,  which,  if  it  ever  came  to  be  called  in  question, 
would  affect  the  purchases  they  were  making.  He  therefore 
gave  them  warrandice  or  surety  on  his  great  estate  of  Lochow, 
in  case  their  rights  should  be  ever  disputed.  But  as  these 
lands  lay  at  a  great  distance,  this  circumstance  gave  rise  to  a 
common  saying  or  bye- word  still  used  in  Caithness,  '  It  is  a 
long  cry  to  Lochow.'  It  thus  happened  that,  at  a  later  period, 
the  purchasers  from  Lord  Breadalbane  ran  some  risk  of  being 
forced  to  have  recourse  to  this  species  of  guarantee  for  the 
money  they  had  paid  him  for  their  lands. 

"  In  the  year  1719,  Alexander  Sinclair,  then  Earl  of  Caith- 
ness, brought  an  action  before  the  Court  of  Session  for  having 
the  whole  transactions  between  the  sixth  Earl  of  Caithness  and 
the  first  Breadalbane  reduced  and  put  aside  on  account  of  the 
alleged  imbecility  of  the  former.  It  set  forth  that  Earl  George 
had  been  much  injured  and  taken  advantage  of  by  John  Camp- 
bell of  Glenorchy,  the  first  Earl  of  Breadalbane,  when  he 
transferred  the  estate  to  him  on  his  being  bound  to  pay  the 


6S  CAITHNESS 

debts.  The  action  was  of  long  litigation  in  court,  contested 
hotly,  and  the  Caithness  gentlemen  became  exceedingly  anxious 
about  the  result.  At  last,  fortunately  for  them,  as  well  as  for 
the  second  Lord  Breadalbane,  Mr,  "William  Budge,  their  agent, 
happened  to  recover  the  original  letter  and  proposal  mentioned 
as  having  been  sent  to  Sir  Robert  Sinclair  of  Longformacus, 
offering:  the  Caithness  estate  to  him  on  the  same  terms  as  John 
Campbell  of  Glenorchy  had  concluded  for,  together  with  Sir 
Robert's  answer  positively  rejecting  the  bargain  as  highly 
disadvantageous.  The  production  of  those  papers  instantly 
turned  the  scale  ;  and  by  the  final  and  unanimous  decision  of 
the  supreme  court,  the  gentlemen  of  Caithness  have  ever  since 
remained  in  the  quiet  and  undisturbed  possession  of  their 
estates." 


Thus  ends  Captain  Kennedy's  narrative  on  its  26th  page,  folio  size  ; 
and  that  two  other  pages,  27  and  28,  are  still  attached,  numbered,  while 
there  may  have  been  more  blank  leaves,  suggests  that  he  intended  to 
continue  his  historic  "  anecdotes,"  as  he  calls  the  piece,  down  to  his  own 
time  of  1814.  It  is  a  pity  that  he  has  reached  no  farther  than  1724  ;  for 
he  must  have  known  many  particulars  of  Earl  Alexander's  life,  on  which  he 
here  but  enters,  the  Lord  Hemer  of  popular  memory,  as  well  as  the  story  of 
the  dispossessed  Broynach  family,  whose  representative  James  Sinclair  is 
now  cle  jure  and  de  facto  Earl  of  Caithness  by  right  of  blood,  though  not 
yet  acknowledged  by  the  crown,  parliament,  and  peerage-books.  Lord 
Hemer's  unsuccessful  legal  struggle  from  1719  to  1724  to  recover  the 
Caithness  estate,  has  been  fully  described  in  the  Northern  Ensign  by  a 
letter  dated  Falmouth,  June,  1893.  Captain  Kennedy's  views  are  thin  and 
uninformed ;  but  he  had  wordly  wisdom  in  favouring  accomplished  facts, 
and  in  accepting  those  gentlemen  of  Caithness  who  were  enjoying  the  spoil 
of  that  Campbell  robber.      Of  him  Lord  Macaulay  in  his  "  History  of 


EVENTS.  69 

England,"  chap,  xxi.,  says,  when  discussing  his  cruel  connection  with  the 
massacre  of  Glcncoe  on  13th  February,  1692,  and  his  management  of 
£12,000  to  £15,000  of  state  money  given  to  him  for  the  pacification  of 
the  Highland  chiefs,  "In  truth  the  depths  of  this  man's  knavery  were 
unfathomable.  It  is  impossible  to  say  which  of  his  treasons  were,  to 
borrow  the  Italian  classification,  single  treasons,  and  which  double 
treasons."  Barbarian  pride  and  ferocity,  the  deep  taint  of  treachery  and 
corruption,  caring  for  no  government  and  no  religion,  betraying  every  party 
in  turn,  are  further  characterisations  of  him  by  the  brilliant  historian. 

Bailie  Charles  Bruce,  Wick,  has  indicated  the  local  popular  feeling 
about  John  Campbell,  Lord  Glenorchy,  Earl  of  Caithness  (!),  Earl  of 
Breadalbane,  from  a  curious  basis,  thus  : — "  When  George,  the  sixth 
earl,  was  under  the  power  and  domination  of  Glenorchy,  that  deceitful 
usurper  was  greatly  contemned  by  the  people  of  Caithness,  and  by  none 
was  he  more  cordially  hated  than  by  the  burghers  of  Wick.  Every  species 
of  insult  and  indignity  which  they  could  cast  upon  him  they  so  detested  or 
upon  his  servants,  they  were  not  slow  to  use.  This  treatment  Glenorchy 
keenly  felt,  and  to  be  revenged  on  the  townspeople  for  their  action  towards 
himself  and  his  retainers,  he  prompted  the  Earl  of  Caithness  to  petition 
parliament  to  have  two  fairs  annually  and  weekly  markets  at  Staxigoe. 
The  intention  was  to  injure  the  principal  source  of  the  burgh's  revenue,  a 
lower  scale  of  petty  customs  expected  to  transfer  the  buying  and  selling  to 
that  village.  On  23rd  December,  1669,  the  petition  was  granted,  see 
"  Acta  Parliamentorum  Scotiae."  The  cloven  hoof  of  the  arch-prompter  is 
seen  unmistakably  in  this  transaction,  for  on  the  following  day  there  is  a 
petition  from  the  laird  of  Glenorchy  to  have  two  fairs  and  a  weekly  market 
at  the  church  of  Kenmore  in  Breadalbane.  There  is  no  account  of  the 
fairs  or  markets  at  Staxigoe  ever  having  been  held,  and  it  is  not  probable, 
if  they  were,  that  they  would  be  patronised  by  the  Caithness  people." 

In  an  appendix  of  the  above  state  record  the  petitions  are  printed  in 
full,  the  earl's  shewing  being  that  "  the  petitioner  is  infeft  in  the  lands  of 
Staxigoe  as  a  part  of  the  earldom  of  Caithness,  etc."  As  a  haven  for  many 
strangers  it  needed  markets,  the  petition  pleaded.  The  only  thing  to 
prevent  the  ingenious  theory  of  Campbell's  influence,  is  that  several  other 


70  CAITHNESS 

lairds  had  similar  grants  on  the  same  days.  But  John  Campbell,  when 
younger  of  Glenorchy,  had  been  involved  in  Caithness  affairs  as  early  as 
1663.  He  was  on  the  earl's  side  then  against  William  Sinclair  of 
Dunbeath,  M.P.,  whom  Sir  James  Sinclair  of  Murkle  had  appointed  sheriff- 
depute.  On  29th  July,  1669,  he  had  a  commission  to  pursue  to  the  death 
John  of  Murkle  and  William  of  Dunbeath,  and  had  the  Earl  of  Linlithgow's 
foot-soldiers  to  help  him.  He  was  therefore  in  that  year  in  close  corres- 
pondence with  the  Earl  of  Caithness.  The  people  knew  him  many  years 
before  Altimarlach  battle,  for  which  he  nearly  lost  his  head  and  property. 
This  would  have  saved  his  retention  of  government  money,  and  the 
massacre  of  the  Macdonalcls.  He  died  in  1716  a  very  old  man.  See 
"  First  Contest  for  the  Earldom,"  founded  on  the  Duke  of  Lauderdale  MSS. 
in  the  British  Museum  library.  At  this  institution  can  be  seen  printed 
copies  of  the  appeals  to  the  House  of  Lords  by  Campbell's  son  John, 
second  Earl  of  Breadalbane,  Sir  James  Sinclair  of  Dunbeath,  and  John 
Sinclair  of  Ulbster,  together  with  those  of  their  opponent  Lord  Caithness, 
which  closed  the  legal  proceedings  of  1719  to  1724,  in  a  way  which  seems 
to  satisfy  Captain  Kennedy. 

Recurring  to  chapter  V.,  the  arrow  incident  has  colour  from  the 
"Regiam  Majestatem,"  folio  170,  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1609.  William 
Keith  is  mentioned  as  pursuing  William,  second  Earl  of  Caithness,  on  10th 
March,  1500,  for  spuilzie  of  his  goods,  i.e.,  seizing  cattle  or  horses,  selling 
them,  the  creditor  paying  himself  out  of  the  proceeds.  The  arrester  or 
poinder,  for  legal  action,  needed  a  decree  and  the  presence  of  a  messenger- 
at-arms  at  the  sale  ;  but  William  may  have  neglected  some  such  points 
against  his  debtor  father-in-law,  the  earl-marshal.  A  forty  days'  adjournal 
of  the  case  was  allowed,  to  try  to  make  up  the  peace,  with  what  result  is 
not  known,  unless  the  revengeful  bow  is  indication. 

As  to  the  actual  text  of  the  MS.,  in  order  to  assure  confidence  that  its 
contents  are  faithfully  reproduced,  what  obviously  necessary  corrections 
have  been  made,  must  be  here  noted.  Some  indication  is  also  needed  of 
wrong  views,  which  could  not  be  meddled  with  in  the  context,  except  at 
the  risk  of  doing  injustice  or  showing  disrespect  to  the  captains  honest  and 
interesting   personality,   than   which   nothing   could   be   farther  from    the 


EVENTS.  71 

intention.  Closely  and  beautifully  written  as  to  caligraphy,  the  26  pages 
have  numerous  paragraphs/but  no  other  divisions,  such  as  chapters ;  and 
the  chronological  placing  of  the  subjects  had  in  certain  parts  to  be  rectified, 
knowledge  of  dates  rather  hazy  throughout.  He  followed  Sir  Robert 
Gordon's  erroneous  numbering  of  the  Sinclair  earls ;  but  as  this,  with  the 
records  and  histories  now  available,  is  accepted  fact  about  which  there  can 
be  no  questioning,  the  correct  order  is  introduced.  William  Sinclair,  Prince 
of  Orkney  and  Shetland,  the  famous  baron  of  Roslin  Castle,  Duke  of  Olden- 
burg and  Delmenhorst,  was  the  first  Earl  of  Caithness  of  the  surname,  in 
1455 ;  and  the  counting  goes  on  from  him  accordingly.  The  statement 
that  200  and  400  were  the  numbers  respectively  of  the  Gunns  and  Keiths 
in  the  combat  of  St.  Tears'  Chapel,  has  been  left  unhandled,  as  a  possible 
truth,  though  not  agreeing  with  the  more  usual  accounts.  There  was  a 
mistake  of  calling  Sir  Robert  Sinclair  of  Longformacus  Thomas.  With  the 
elision  of  set  phrases,  which  are  apt  to  haunt  even  practised  writers,  and 
with  other  editorial  polishing  towards  present-day  requirements,  the  narra- 
tive appears  in  print  almost  as  written.  There  has  been  no  tampering  with 
the  sympathies  of  its  author,  though  in  several  connections  his  conclusions 
are  not  founded  on  ascertained  fact,  his  means  of  research  manifestly 
limited.  It  is  to  his  honour  that  he  has  courageously  described  as  well  as 
he  could  so  many  incidents.  In  portions  of  the  history,  especially  with 
regard  to  occurrences  at  Girnigoe  Castle,  and  those  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Wick  generally,  where  he  passed  most  of  his  life,  his  facts  and  views  are 
of  much  importance,  as  in  substantial  agreement  with  the  national  records 
of  Scotland. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
THE  BROYNACH  QUESTION. 

To  shew  what  may  have  been  lost  by  Captain  Kennedy  not 
continuing  down  beyond  1724,  it  is  worth  noting  that  he  was 
the  contemporary  of  James  Sinclair,  Harpsdale's  chamberlain 
at  Thrumster  House,  the  grandson  of  Hon.  David  Sinclair  of 
Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing.  That  he  knew  intimately  this 
now  recognised  Earl  of  Caithness  goes  without  saying,  as  they 
were  both  principal  persons  in  the  same  parish.  Another 
account  of  the  traditions  then  prevailing  about  the  usurping  of 
the  earldom  and  the  dispossession  of  the  Broynachs  from  their 
estates,  would  have  been  most  welcome,  even  if  hostile.  The 
ecclesiastical  evidence  which  is  extant  in  the  county,  of  Broy- 
nach's  second  marriage,  was  probably  altogether  unknown  in 
Kennedy's  day  ;  but  accusations  of  illegitimacy  and  the  contrary 
statements  would  be  most  suggestive,  from  what  is  known  by 
our  time  on  the  best  of  grounds.  He  might  have  added  ninety 
years  of  history  to  his  narrative,  when  his  knowledge  was  at  its 
best,  much  of  it  immediately  personal.  Eighty  years  have 
passed  since  he  wrote,  account  of  which  may  be  said  to  be 
almost  too  plentiful,  the  newspaper,,  like  the  steam-hammer, 
dealing  with  large  and  small  things  equally.  It  could  well  be 
wished  that  the  captain  had  filled  in  the  darker  period  before 


CAITHNESS  EVENTS.  73 

journalism  began  its  bountiful  work  in  Caithness.  As  it 
happens,  the  extensive  discoveries  of  Broynach  literature  enrich 
not  only  what  had  till  then  been  the  most  barren  tract  of  the 
county's  history,  the  eighteenth  century,  but  throws  brilliant 
light  on  the  nineteenth,  to  the  current  hour.  On  the  last  170 
years,  therefore,  the  story  of  the  disinherited  earls  will  go  far 
towards  making  substantial  final  chapters  ;  and  (i  Caithness 
events,"  up  to  date,  may  not  be  a  misnomer. 

The  proof  of  the  legitimacy  of  the  Sinclairs  of  Broynach, 
with  their  consequent  rights  as  the  senior  line  of  their  surname 
and  head  of  the  blood,  is  now  complete.  That  they  were  the 
rightful  Earls  of  Caithness  since  the  death  of  Earl  Alexander  in 
1765,  was  the  cherished  belief  and  secret  within  the  family. 
William  Sinclair  of  Ratter's  iniquitous  but  successful  struggle 
against  James  Sinclair  in  Reiss,  which  ended  in  1772,  put  many 
facts  permanently  on  record.  When  James,  who  was  the 
grandson  of  the  first  Broynach,  and  who  was  habitually  entitled 
Earl  of  Caithness  in  legal  and  other  documents  during  the 
seven  years'  contest,  returned  from  Calcutta  in  1786,  with  a 
fortune  acquired  in  the  golden  days  of  the  rule  of  Warren 
Hastings,  he  renewed  the  battle  with  John  Sinclair  of  Batter, 
the  second  usurping  earl.  Two  prints  and  one  MS.  have 
survived  of  this  endeavour  to  reassert  the  lawfulness  of  his 
lineage,  and  they  contain  knowledge  amply  sufficient  for  the 
purpose.  Captain  James,  for  he  was  a  military  officer  in  the 
service  of  the  East  India  Company,  unfortunately  with  respect 
to  the  rehabilitation  of  his  family,  died  on  1.1th  January,  1788, 
in   Whitcombe  Street,  Pall  Mall,   London,   at  the  age  of  44, 


71  CAITHNESS 

during  the  proceedings  which  he  had  set  on  foot  befoi^e  the 
Court  of  Session.  The  new  evidence,  including  extracts  from 
Caithness  presbytery  and  Olrig  kirk-session,  proving  the 
marriage  of  Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing,  his  grand-parents,  for 
want  of  which  proof  he  had  been  stripped  b}^  the  House  of 
Lords  of  his  ancestral  title,  went  into  total  abeyance  ;  his  next  of 
male  kin,  James  the  Thrumster  chamberlain,  knowing  nothing 
of  his  important  discoveries,  the  legal  processes  nipped  almost 
in  the  very  beginning,  at  all  events  early  enough  to  prevent 
either  publicity  or  intelligence  privately  to  relatives.  By  his 
countess,  Catherine,  born  1747,  daughter  of  Catherine  Tulloch 
and  the  tacksman  then  of  Brims,  John  Bosie,  he  had  no  issue  ; 
and  vindication  of  justice  for  the  Broynach  line  ceased.  John 
of  Batter,  however,  shot  himself  in  London  on  8th  April,  1789, 
from  motives  of  love,  poverty,  and  perhaps  shame  at  wrongly 
holding  the  title  of  Earl  of  Caithness.  An  interregnum  follow- 
ed  this  last  male  of  his  branch  till  4th  March,  1793,  when  Sir 
James  Sinclair  of  Mey  secured  the  peerage  without  a  shadow  of 
right,  on  the  imperfect  and  unopposed  evidence  before  the 
House  of  Lords  of  chiefly  two  very  old  men,  Sir  William 
Dunbar  of  Hempriggs,  and  a  Mr  Sinclair,  thought  to  have  been 
Harpsdale,  provost  of  Wick,  for  whom  the  true  Earl  of  Caith- 
ness was  acting  as  chamberlain  at  Thrumster  House.  Mey's 
printed  case  asserting  his  claim  survives,  as  well  as  other 
matter,  showing  the  timidity  with  which  he  entered  on  his 
conscious  usurpation  of  James  the  chamberlain's  rights,  who 
was  still  under  the  cloud  of  ascribed  illegitimacy  since  the 
House  of  Lords'  uninstructed  and  therefore  on  their  part  quite 


EVENTS.  75 

innocent  decision  of  1772.  The  Mey  line  from  1793  held  the 
title  till  1889,  when  it  was  further  wrongly  assumed  by  their 
cadets  the  Durrans.  There  have  been  two  "Ratter  and  four 
Mey  lairds,  with  the  Aberdeen  bank-agent  and  his  son  the 
American  farmer  of  the  Durran  branch,  in  the  false  position. 
But  their  eight  of  number  and  the  length  of  occupancy  have  no 
force  against  the  restoration  of  the  senior  and  lawful  Broynach 
Sinclairs.  Peerage  lawyers  are  unanimous  that  a  dignity 
cannot  pass  from  the  untainted  blood,  however  long  the  heirs 
may  be  dispossessed  or  unacknowledged,  were  it  a  thousand 
years  ;  unlike  land,  which  prescription  or  statutes  of  limitation 
may  lose  for  ever  to  the  proper  owner  after  a  certain  time, 
formerly  forty  years  but  now  a  reduced  period. 

Fresh  revelation  of  the  facts  discovered  by  Captain  James 
Sinclair,  H.E.T.C.S.,  the  first  Broynach  earl,  appeared  at  length 
in  1889  ;  and  the  question  again  became  the  burning,  practical, 
and  urgent  one  which  it  must  be  till  settled,  the  knowledge  so 
extensive  and  unmistakable.  That  year  three  important  articles 
were  published  in  the  Highland  Monthly  by  Mr  Kenneth 
Macdonald,  town-clerk  of  Inverness,  a  solicitor.  He  was 
entirely  unprejudiced,  being  a  stranger,  and  gave  it  as  his 
mature  opinion,  grounded  on  research  in  the  Advocates' 
Library,  Edinburgh,  that  the  Broynachs  were  unrighteously 
supplanted  by  the  Ratters  and  their  successors.  Abundant 
evidence  of  the  fact  of  the  marriage  on  which  the  whole  case 
turned,  was  found  by  him  in  print  and  manuscript,  particularly 
the  accumulation  made  by  Earl  James  from  his  arrival  in 
London  on  24th  June,  1786,  from  the  East  Indies,  till  his  death 


76  CAITHNESS 

on  ]  lth  January,  1788,  when  the  subject  went  into  somnolence. 
By  denying  that  this  marriage  of  Broynach  to  Janet  Ewing 
ever  occurred,  Ratter  became  Earl  of  Caithness ;  and  as  it 
happened  so  long  before  as  June,  1700,  their  grandson  could 
not  prove  it,  in  the  first  stage  of  the  struggle  from  1765  to 
1772.  On  his  return,  he  was  told  of  them  as  written  down 
"husband"  and  ".wife"  in  the  ecclesiastical  minutes  of 
Caithness,  of  which  he  took  official  copy  ,  and  with  personal 
testimony  in  addition,  to  large  extent,  it  was  only  a  question  of 
time  and  legal  process  for  him  to  be  reinstated  in  the  title  of 
which  he  was  unjustly  deprived,  had  his  death  not  stopped 
everything.  In  the  same  magazine,  November,  1889,  the 
author  of  "  Caithness  Events  "  followed  up  these  articles  by  one 
entitled  "  Fortunes  of  the  Batters,"  supporting  from  discoveries 
in  the  British  Museum  Library  and  elsewhere  the  new  con- 
clusions. Thereafter  he  made  special  and  prolonged  investiga- 
tion at  Edinburgh  among  the  parish  registers  of  the  Register 
House,  and  the  legal  books  and  MSS.  of  the  Advocates' 
Library  ;  examined  and  copied  out  the  will  at  Somerset  House, 
the  government  office,  London,  of,  as  it  reads,  "  James  Sinclair, 
Esquire  of  Broinach,"  signed  at  Calcutta  immediately  before 
his  return  to  Britain,  dated  25th  November,  1785,  with  a 
codicil  of  date  London,  17th  April,  1787  ;  collected  and  paid 
for  official  transcripts  of  the  ecclesiastical  evidence  in  Caithness, 
before  he  knew  of  Earl  James's  full  copies  in  print  at  the 
Advocates'  Library,  and  also  had  and  made  state  record 
excerpts  from  wherever  they  could  be  found  ;  consulted  London, 
Glasgow,  and   Edinburgh  lawyers  of  standing,  with  the  most 


EVENTS.  77 

encouraging  result ;  compiled  numerous  statements  from 
relatives  and  other  persons  at  home,  in  the  colonies,  and 
abroad  having  knowledge  and  relevant  traditions  ;  and  pub- 
lished illustrative  discussion  of  the  various  points  for 
authentication  of  the  narrative.  The  bulk  of  these  labours  is 
safely  embodied  in  the  columns  of  the  Northern  Ensign,  for  the 
consultation  of  whom  it  interests  or  practically  concerns.  A 
series  of  letters  containing  records,  cases,  informations,  and  all 
other  instruments  of  pgoof,  went  on  from  1889  till  now  in  that 
journal,  making  up  in  quantity  what  would,  if  published  in 
book  form,  require  at  least  700  octavo  pages.  No  question  of 
descent  and  legality  was  ever  more  amply  and  effectively 
established  ;  information  growing  clearer  and  more  correct  with 
the  increase  of  ascertained  facts,  as  in  all  research,  till  the  truth 
is  fixed.  Examination  by  experts  of  the  materials  now  avail- 
able, must  demonstrate  without  fail  the  good  faith  and  reality 
involved  in  the  whole  theme.  An  outline  of  the  history  of  the 
Broynach  Sinclairs,  the  representatives  of  all  the  honours  and 
traditions  of  the  house  of  St.  Clair  in  Normandy  (Duke  Hollo's 
Norse  lineage),  Roslin  and  Nithsdale  in  Scotland,  Oldenburg  in 
Germany,  Orkney  and  Shetland  under  Denmark  and  Norway, 
lastly  of  Caithness,  will  be  of  use  to  those  without  facilities  or 
desire  to  read  the  extensive  matter  rescued  from  comparative 
oblivion  into  the  light  of  newspaper  day. 

Charters  show  that  the  title  of  Earl  of  Caithness  was  limited 
by  state  enactment  to  heirs  male,  which  simplifies  and  solidifies 
enquiry.  In  none  of  the  hot  contentions  which  have  again  and 
again  arisen  about   the  dignity  was  this   ever  questioned,  but 


78  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

always    admitted    as    the    preliminary,    producible    documents 
precluding  every  doubt.      So  fortunate  a  limitation  of  persons 
keeps    successions    very    distinct    and    incontestable,    compared 
with  what  they   would  have   been  had  the  honour  gone  some- 
times to  women  and  their  husbands,  as  with  many  earldoms.     A 
crown  charter  in   the  usual   Latin,  dated   2nd   October,    1545, 
limited  the  succession  to  males;  another,  3rd  April,  1592,  did 
likewise  ;  a  third,  27th  July,  1633,  repeated  the  clause;  and  in 
1661  George  the  sixth  earl  expeded  a  charter  to  himself  and  his 
male  heirs.     When  the   seventh  earl  died  in   1698,   his  sister 
Jean,  Lady  Mey,  who  died  in  1716,  could  not  secure  the  title 
for  herself  or  her  husband ;  and  when  Earl  Alexander  died  in 
176.5,  his  only  child,  Dorothy,  Countess  of  Fife,   "  did  not  even 
pretend  to  compete  for  the  peerage."     Ratter's  "  information," 
20th  June,   1769,  written  by  Henry  Dundas,  afterwards  Vis- 
count Melville,   says,   "  It  is  an  agreed  point  that  the  dignity 
and  honours  of  Caithness  descend  to  whosoever  shall  establish 
himself  to  be  the  lineal  heir-male  of  the  family."     Earl  James's 
counsel  George   Ogilvie  in  the  opposing   "  information,"  22nd 
June,   1769,  says,   "  The  honours  of  Caithness  go  to  the  heir- 
male."     Henry  Erskine,  the  famous  Lord- Advocate,  in  his  case 
for  Earl  James,  25th  July,  1787,  said,   "The  honours  of  Caith- 
ness are  descendible  to  the  heir-male  of  the  family  ;"  and  Alex- 
ander Abercromby  for  John  of  Ratter  in  the  case  28th  July, 
1787,  begins  with  the  words,   "  The  title  and  dignity  of  Earl  of 
Caithness  are  limited  to  heirs-male."     On  this  essential  there  is 
therefore  complete  unanimity. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
BROYNACH  AND  JANET  EWING. 

The  biography  of  the  Hon.  David  Sinclair,  first  of  Broynach, 
and  that  of  his  descendants,  will  now  assume  the  proper  import- 
ance. David  was  the  only  brother  of  John,  eighth  Earl  of 
Caithness,  laird  of  Murkle ,  and  the  year  of  his  birth  has  been 
reckoned  to  be  16*42,  that  of  his  death  certainly  1714.  The 
mother  of  the  two  was  Stuart,  niece  of  the  Earl  of  Galloway, 
and  their  father's  mother  of  the  same  royal  race  ;  the  latter  the 
grand-daughter  of  James  the  Fifth,  her  mother  a  Kennedy, 
Countess  of  Strathearn  and  Orkney.  His  personal  attractions 
gave  the  sobriquet  of  "  Bochie  Davie"  or  "Bonnie  Davie"  to 
the  younger  brother ;  and  that  Stuart  blood  in  him  was  not 
inoperative,  is  shown  by  early  summonses  before  the  kirk-session 
and  presbytery  for  discipline,  as  their  minutes  still  testify. 
From  4th  October,  1671,  till  2nd  May,  1683,  he  has  frequent 
appearances  in  their  books  for  illicit  cohabitation  and  multilapse 
with  Agnes  Barny,  Olrig.  He  was  not  an  intractable  person  is 
proved  by  a  minute  of  the  presbytery  (presided  over  by  the 
bishop)  dated  Thurso,  3rd  January,  1683,  where  it  is  noted  that 
he  had  given  obedience  to  the  then  episcopal  church  discipline. 
That  there  has  never  been  a  whisper  of  marriage  to  this  woman, 
for  whom  he  must  have  had  true  affection,  judging  from  the 


80  CAITHNESS 

length  of  the  entanglement,  illustrates,  by  contrast  of  noisy 
debate,  the  fact  of  a  real  ceremony  between  him  and  a  later 
love  of  his.  It  would  have  been  easy  to  pass  over  this  earlier 
passage  in  his  life,  but  it  is  always  mistake  to  hide  ascertained 
fact  in  cases  of  the  kind,  inferences  of  value  coming  from  the 
most  unlikely  sources. 

The  date  of  Broynach's  marriage  to  a  daughter  of  William 
Sinclair  of  Dunn  is  not  known  as  yet,  but  it  could  not  well  be 
before  1683,  the  Barny  attachment  continuing  at  least  till  then. 
It  is  pretty  certain  that  this  wife  died  in  1697,  and  a  witness 
(Ratter's  proof)  swears  that  he  knew  three  of  their  children, 
John,  James,  and  Elizabeth.  These  two  males  died  without 
issue,  by  a  consensus  of  depositions  ;  the  latter  of  them,  who 
was  the  longer  liver,  in  1754,  a  bachelor.  Elizabeth  became 
Mrs  Whyte,  Thurso,  and  reached  a  great  age,  of  whom  much  is 
known,  and  who  remains  a  principal  witness  towards  the  rehabi- 
litation of  her  father's  male  descendants  by  his  second  wife  as 
earls  of  the  county. 

Though  his  private  history  as  founder  of  the  Broynach 
family  has  the  leading  claim  on  attention,  yet  before  entering 
upon  its  cardinal  passage,  it  may  be  noted  that  the  Hon.  David 
was  hotly  engaged  in  the  public  doings  of  his  time.  Captain 
Kennedy  makes  him  the  leader  of  the  Caithness  force  at  the 
battle  of  Altimarlach  on  13th  July,  1680,  with  the  Argyle  and 
Perth  Campbells,  who  were  nearly  double  their  opponents  in 
number  and  supported  by  government  musketeers.  To  those 
who  have  examined  the  position  of  the  invaders  on  a  round 
flat-topped  hill  or  rising  ground  near  the  left  bank  of  Wick 


EVENTS.  81 

river,  with  a  huge  natural  ditch  or  difficult  little  ravine,  to 
alternate  its  description,  surrounding  a  considerable  portion  of 
their  encampment,  the  courage  of  making  an  open  attack  on  the 
strangers  seems  phenomenal,  hatred  of  Lord  Glenorchy  and  his 
hordes  only  a  partial  explanation.  In  war  wonders  of  panic 
sometimes  occur  to  justify  following  heroic  impulse,  but  David 
was  not  favoured  by  fortune  in  this  instance,  for  all  the  bravery 
undoubtedly  displayed.  He  had  his  revenges  in  subsequent 
fights  with  Campbell's  men  at  Girnigoe  Castle,  which  he 
unwillingly  ruined  by  artillery,  and  at  other  places  where  they 
had  taken  possession.  In  the  end  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  the  intruder  stripped  ignominiously  of  the  Caithness  title, 
which  he  had  filched  from  the  rightful  heir  George  Sinclair  of 
Keiss,  thereafter  earl  till  his  death  in  1698.  Broynach's  efforts 
in  behalf  of  his  near  kinsman  at  all  risks,  even  declared  rebel 
by  the  government  of  Scotland,  are  recounted  in  Mackay  and 
other  historians'  pages,  as  also  in  the  privy  council  minutes. 
He  survives  well,  too,  in  the  popular  memory  and  sympathies  ; 
his  unavoidable  defeat  counterbalanced  by  successes  which 
showed  that  he  was  a  gallant  officer,  evidently  of  technical 
training,  by  his  besieging  and  taking  castles.  That  he  was, 
according  to  Kennedy,  general  on  the  unlucky  day  of  Altimar- 
lach  implies  professional  knowledge.  The  chief  interest  in  him 
now,  however,  is  with  regard  to  lineage,  to  which  return  must 
be  made. 

When  David's  first  wife  died  in  1697,  Brovnach  House 
was  left  without  guidance,  three  children  needing  woman's  care. 
One  of  the  Colquhoun  baronets  of  Luss,  who  was  patron  of 


82  CAITHNESS 

some  Caithness  churches,  recommended  a  trusty  domestic  of  his 
at  Rossdhu  Castle,  beside  Loch  Lomond,  as  a  housekeeper. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Donald  Ewing,  laird  of  Bernice, 
Argyleshire,  such  appointments  then  frequent  in  her  class. 
The  mansion-house  of  the  estate  is  still  in  good  preservation, 
a  square  block  with  two  chimneys,  its  length  45  feet  and 
breadth  27,  with  two  windows  and  a  door  in  front  on  the  lower 
story  and  three  windows  on  the  upper,  the  elevation  showing  a 
great  expanse  of  dead  wall,  partly  because  of  the  smallness  of 
the  windows  of  the  period.  Its  extent  is  indicated  by  its  con- 
taining 16  rooms,  the  back  having  windows  on  account  of  its 
being  a  double  house.  These  particulars  need  mentioning, 
because  one  of  the  weapons  used  falsely  by  the  usurpers  was 
that  this  woman  came  of  a  low  rank  unworthy  of  alliance  to 
a  superior  family,  the  implication  being  that  she  could  not  have 
a  good  marriage  in  her  circumstances.  But  her  people  to 
this  day  belong  to  the  landed  class.  Sir  Archibald  Ewing, 
baronet,  who  died  in  1893,  aged  75,  M.P.  many  years  for 
Dumbartonshire,  was  laird  of  Ballikinrain,  Stirlingshire,  and 
of  Gollanfield,  Inverness -shire ;  and  in  a  public  meeting  in 
Glasgow  he  declared  that  he  was  descended  from  the  Ewings 
of  Bernice,  his  interest  in  genealogy  and  antiquities  giving 
his  statement  special  value.  His  personalty  has  been  proved 
at  about  £80,000  above  £1,000,000  ;  his  son  Sir  William, 
Ardencaple  Castle,  succeeding  him  in  the  baronetcy.  The 
house  of  Caithness  has  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  its 
Ewing  relatives,  though  its  enemies  did  all  they  knew  to 
degrade  Janet  Ewing  and   her   memory   for   their   own   selfish 


EVENTS.  83 

purposes,  on  the  allegation  that  she  was  only  a  common  servant 
of  the  lowest  class. 

Not  long  after  her  arrival  in  Caithness,  an  attachment 
sprang  up  between  the  housekeeper  and  her  master  ;  but,  it  is 
in  evidence,  more  on  his  side  than  hers,  loyal  to  her  duty  and 
office.  Ultimately  he  gained  her  affections,  and  in  1699  the 
single  fault  of  a  brave  and  womanly  life  befel  her,  the  birth  to 
him  of  an  illegitimate  son.  The  kirk-session  of  Olrig  were  at 
once  engaged  about  the  necessary  discipline,  which  both  Broy- 
nach  and  she  refused  to  undergo  ;  and  the  serious  consequence 
was  that  they  were  summoned  to  appear  before  the  presbytery 
at  Thurso  on  11th  November,  1699.  As  they  did  not  answer 
to  the  citation,  the  minister  of  Olrig,  Rev.  William  Macbeath, 
was  empowered  to  "  proceed  against  them  in  order  to  excommu- 
nication." The  dreaded  sentence  of  excommunication  by  the 
church  usually  deprived  a  man  of  his  property,  as  well  as  of 
other  social  needs ;  and  presbyterianism  being  at  its  most 
triumphant  period,  with  the  help  of  the  Hon.  David's  brother 
Earl  John,  who  violently  opposed  a  proposed  marriage  between 
the  erring  pair,  the  house  and  lands  of  Broynach  were,  it  is 
believed,  then  taken  away  from  him.  Before  the  presbytery 
process,  the  clergy  had  gone  to  Broynach  House  and  turned 
Janet  Ewing  out  of  it,  against  the  will  of  her  master.  For 
some  time  she  lived  in  a  cothouse  in  Bowermadden,  till  a  culmi- 
nation came  to  their  affairs.  Of  date  Thurso,  December  6th, 
1699,  the  presbytery  gave  over  "David  Sinclair  of  Broynach 
and  Janet  Ewing,  his  concubine,"  to  quote  the  existing  minute, 
with  its  harsh  ecclesiastical  language,  "to  the  sheriff  to  cause 


84  CAITHNESS 

apprehend  the  said  obstinate  scandalous  persons,  in  order  to  be 
dealt  with  according  to  the  terms  of  the  act  of  parliament  against 
prophaneness."  The  fine  for  a  first  fault  was  by  statute  of  1st 
February,  1649,  £400  Scots  to  a  nobleman,  £200  to  a  laird,  and 
so  on  downwards  to  £10  Scots  for  an  ordinary  person,  the  same 
scale  applicable  to  women.  Imprisonment  on  bread  and  water 
eight  days,  concluding  with  two  hours  in  the  public  stocks,  was 
the  alternative  of  the  act  of  1567,  if  money  was  not  paid ;  but  the 
details  of  physical  punishment  varied  with  the  periods,  localities, 
and  demands  of  the  clergy  upon  the  civil  arm.  Multilapse  had 
its  correspondent  severity  of  retribution  as  marked  out  in  the 
acts,  banishment  from  the  town  or  parish  forever  the  last  resort 
of  the  law.  It  is  easy  to  realise  Broynach's  difficulties,  because 
presbyterianism  since  the  revolution  of  1688  was  at  its  utmost 
of  strictness  and  power,  the  landed  class  under  its  authority  as 
much  as  the  poorest.  Whether  Janet  Ewing  was  not  allowed 
to  escape  on  a  fine,  or  that,  at  a  time  of  distress  when  rents 
were  unpaid,  Broynach  was  unable  to  meet  it,  she  was  forcibly 
carried  off  to  Thurso  "to  underlie  the  law,"  as  the  phrase  went. 
It  is  possible  that  excommunication  had  made  him  impecunious, 
suddenly  ;  though  the  whole  Murkle  family,  of  which  he  was 
the  second  person,  were  in  impoverishment  from  the  annexation 
of  the  earldom  estate  by  the  Earl  of  Breadalbane.  How  his 
feelings  were  outraged  can  be  understood  from  the  fact  that,  on 
the  morning  of  the  day  appointed  for  Janet  Ewing  to  be 
drummed  through  the  streets  of  Thurso,  with  a  paper  crown 
having  the  inscription  of  her  single  offence,  he  went  to  the 
official  who  was  to  finish  her  punishment  by  so  many  lashes  on 


EVENTS.  85 

the  bare  shoulders,  and  "  treated  "  him,  so  that  he  might  do  his 
ugly  work  as  gently  as  possible.  A  mob  led  by  two  clergymen 
began  carrying  out  the  sentence,  and  the  point  was  reached 
where  the  scourging  had  to  take  place.  Broynach  could  repress 
himself  no  longer,  and  with  a  primed  pistol  and  drawn  sword 
he  attacked  the  ribald  procession,  the  ministers  the  first  to  flee. 
He  put  a  plaid  around  her  already  stripped  back,  and  conveyed 
her  away  with  him  to  his  home. 

It  was  in  no  spirit  of  defiance  of  the  then  omnipotent  kirk 
that  he  kept  her  there ;  for  he  entreated  the  Rev.  William 
limes,  Thurso,  their  special  persecutor,  and  others  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, to  marry  them,  but  without  success,  as  they  might  so 
escape  a  portion  of  church  discipline.  The  two  set  out  for 
Orkney  to  try  to  get  the  ceremony  performed  there,  and  they 
had  arrived  at  Scarfskerry  to  cross  the  Pentland  Firth,  when  a 
party  of  men  sent  after  them  by  Earl  John  seized  and  brought 
them  back.  An  incident  of  the  sort  was  not  very  likely  to 
reconcile  a  man  of  Broynach's  spirit  to  the  situation,  and  he 
came  to  a  speedy  decision  fraught  with  such  danger  as  can 
hardly  at  all  be  now  appreciated,  that  they  would  get  married 
by  an  "  outed  "  episcopal  clergyman.  The  witnesses  to  the 
ceremony  had  to  run  the  danger  of  fines  and  imprisonment,  while 
the  disestablished  performer  subjected  himself  to  banishment  to 
the  American  plantations,  and  death  if  he  returned,  the  married 
pair  further  liable  to  imprisonment  and  fine.  The  episcopalians 
and  presbyterians,  as  they  were  in  power,  availed  themselves 
of  these  laws  against  people  out  of  the  supremacy ;  but  neither 
sect  could,  though   they  eagerly  would,  affect  in  the  least  the 


S6  CAITHNESS 

validity  of  marriages  actually  celebrated,  if  even  without  the 
proclamation  of  banns.  On  one  of  the  first  days  of  June,  1700, 
the  Rev.  Arthur  Anderson,  who  had  been  episcopal  minister  of 
Kilmany,  Fifeshire,  married  the  Hon.  David  Sinclair  of  Broy- 
nach  and  Janet  Ewing  at  Cairnsburn  House,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  what  is  now  Barrogill  Castle,  Mey,  as  he  humanely 
said,  "  to  put  them  out  of  the  necessity  of  sinning."  Elizabeth 
Munro  (Mrs  James  Home),  Mey,  and  "  two  young  lasses" 
were  witnesses  to  the  marriage.  John  Douglas,  mason,  Thurso, 
was  said  to  be  also  present,  but  the  fear  of  incurring  the  statu- 
tory fine  or  imprisonment  kept  him  silent  on  the  subject.  In 
the  autumn  of  1767  Mrs  Home  confessed  this  information,  then 
with  fear  and  trembling,  and  added  the  convincing  remark  that 
"  Broynach  gave  the  minister  a  red  guinea  unchanged  for  his 
trouble."  Donald  Groat,  on  22nd  June,  1700,  swore  that  he 
saw  the  same  clergyman  marry  John  Sinclair  of  Forss  to 
Elizabeth  Sinclair  in  the  previous  April,  and  that  he  had  five 
or  six  dollars  from  them,  which  is  a  suggestive  parallel  to  the 
red  guinea.  On  the  same  date  Gilbert  Ommand,  notary-public, 
swore  that  he  saw  him  baptise  their  son  "the  other  day."  She 
was  daughter  of  a  John  of  Batter,  and  was  exactly  in  the  same 
position  with  Janet  Ewing,  as  having  had  her  son  born  before 
marriage,  both  being  second  wives.  To  make  the  similarity 
curiously  complete,  David  Macleod  at  that  ecclesiastical  court 
deponed  that  Broynach's  child  was  baptised  by  Bev.  Arthur 
Anderson,  which  is  a  most  enlightening  statement,  in  another 
important  connection,  as  will  be  seen  later.  It  was  sworn  by 
Thomas  Manson  in  1769  that  his  father  and  mother  were  at  the 


EVENTS.  87 

infair  or  bridal-feast  of  Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing,  and  that  it 
was  held  in  Red  Hall,  Stanstill,  whence  they  returned  "  to 
their  own  house  at  Murkle."  For  performing  clerical  functions 
as  above,  the  episcopal  clergyman  was  deposed  from  the  ministry 
by  a  Commission  of  General  Assembly  united  with  Caithness 
Presbytery,  which  sat  at  Thurso,  the  deposition  sentence  passed 
on  24th  June,  1700.  For  numerous  and  exact  details  the 
minutes  of  the  process,  still  extant  in  the  county,  are  of  the 
highest  value  to  the  Broynachs,  because  they  of  themselves 
prove  the  fact  of  Janet  Ewing's  marriage.  The  Ommand 
already  mentioned,  who  was  town-clerk  of  Wick  and  procurator 
of  the  church,  swore  that  Anderson  "  married  David  Sinclair 
and  Janet  Ewing,  and  that  yesterday  [21st  June,  1700,  by  the 
minutes]  he  declared  the  same  to  the  deponent,  and  that  if  it 
were  to  do  he  would  do  it  again."  It  was  the  leading  charge 
upon  which  he  was  deposed ;  the  presbyterians  referring  to  his 
doings  as  a  " great  scandal"  to  the  kirk,  in  the  printed  transac- 
tions of  the  General  Assembly. 

The  troubles  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sinclair  of  Broy- 
nach were  not  over  with  the  final  step  they  had  been  able 
successfully  but  with  great  danger  and  difficulty  to  take. 
Dread  of  a  second  child  being  born  out  of  wedlock  to  them  had 
hastened  or  determined  the  ceremony.  In  the  first  week  of 
February,  1701,  their  son  David  saw  the  light,  just  eight 
months  after  his  parents'  marriage  ;  and  though  he  was  entirely 
lawful,  the  kirk-session  of  Olrig,  with  inquisitorial  malice  rather 
than  ordinary  presbyterian  officialism,  called  upon  them  to 
submit    themselves    to    the    church    discipline   of    standing    in 


88  CAITHNESS 

church  before  the  congregation  prior  to  his  baptism.  The 
session's  minute  of  August  3rd,  1701,  states  that  Broynach 
was  informed  upon  "  for  not  coming  "  to  church,  and  for 
having  a  child  nearly  half  a  year  old  without  baptism."  The 
minute  of  19th  September  gives  his  answer  to  a  deputation, 
namely,  that  he  could  not  attend  the  ordinances  until  his 
mother,  Jean  Stuart,  Lady  Murkle,  would  give  him  clothes, 
and  then  he  would  do  satisfaction  to  church  discipline.  He 
and,  as  the  record  expressly  has  it,  "  his  wife,  Janet  Ewing," 
were  summoned  to  the  next  meeting,  but  did  not  appear,  the 
minute  of  which  again  writes  down  the  words  "Janet  Ewing, 
his  wife."  On  October  30th,  1701,  Janet  appeared,  and 
"  acknowledged  a  second  relapse  with  David  Sinclair  of  Broy- 
nach before  marriage  with  him,  as  also  that  she  lived  some 
years  in  the  same  house  with  him  before  Rev.  Arthur 
Anderson  married  them,  being  forced  thereunto  contrary  to  her 
own  inclination."  After  this  "confession"  she  was  exhorted 
and  rebuked  by  the  minister,  and  told  she  had  to  begin  her 
public  appearances  before  the  congregation  the  next  Sunday. 
She  promptly  asked  for  the  child's  baptism  then  and  there,  but 
was  refused  the  privilege  until,  as  the  record  says,  "  her  husband 
likewise  submitted  to  church  discipline."  Both  declined  to 
stand,  and  Janet  was  rebuked  for  disobedience  by  the  session  on 
7th  December,  1701,  but  by  the  minute  of  5th  February,  1702, 
she  had  appeared  singly  the  fifth  time  then  before  the  congre- 
gation, so  willing  was  she  to  have  her  second  son  baptised. 
There  is  no  more  about  them  in  the  session  record,  but  from 
Batter's  proof  this  boy  was  christened  in  1704,  with  a  sister,  the 


EVENTS.  89 

third  child,  at  Claredon  Hall,  where  Lady  Murkle  lived,  by  the 
Rev.  William  Innes,  Thurso.  Both  the  children  walked  from 
their  parents'  house,  which  was  "a  short  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant."  Though  always  denominated  "  of  Broynach  "  in  the 
kirk-session  minutes,  it  is  evident  that  excommunication  or  Earl 
John's  anger  or  loss  of  means  had  absolutely  impoverished  him  ; 
for  his  mother  not  only  supplied  him  with  clothes,  but  gave  him 
the  small  home  in  Claredon  which  was  the  poor  substitute  for 
the  mansion  of  his  estate  of  Broynach.  But  thenceforward  to 
his  death  in  1714  he  lived  in  comparative  peace,  though  the 
ministers  never  quite  ceased  from  troubling  him.  Of  his  fourth 
child  Donald  by  Janet  Ewing,  named  after  her  father  and  born 
about  1705,  there  remains  no  account  of  difficulties  at  baptism  ; 
but  Margaret  Swanson  swore  at  Durran  on  25th  May,  1767, 
that  she  saw  the  youngest  baptised  Janet  by  Rev.  William 
Innes,  and  that  the  child  was  so  far  grown  up  that  she  could  go 
in  and  out  about  the  house.  This  would  indicate  friction  still 
between  Broynach  and  the  clergy,  Swanson  giving  the  date  of 
the  baptism  as  1712.  From  the  "  informations  "  of  1769,  where 
the  half-sister  of  these  children  Mrs.  Whyte  gives  sworn 
evidence,  it  is  known  that  Margaret  was  the  name  of  Janet 
Ewing's  third  child.  The  eldest  son  by  the  oath  of  Elizabeth 
Sinclair  (Mrs  Whyte)  died  a  baby,  and  it  has  been  seen  that  he 
was  baptised  by  the  Rev.  Arthur  Anderson,  but,  passing 
away  so  early,  his  name  has  not  transpired.  Of  Broynach's 
family  by  Janet  Ewing  there  is  therefore  a  perfect  reckoning, 
according  to  the  order  of  birth,  thus  :  the  eldest  son,  who  was 
made  lawful  by  the   marriage    of   1700,   but  died    an    infant; 

M 


90  CAITHNESS 

David,  lawful  at  his  birth,  by  all  the  codes  of  law,  even  the 
strictest,  that  of  England,  though  his  parents  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  Olrig  kirk-session  on  perhaps  imaginary  grounds,  if 
the  medical  dictum  is  true  that  eight  months'  perfect 
children  are  frequent  facts;  Margaret,  born  about  1703; 
Donald,  so  well  known  in  adult  life  as  the  Sailor,  ancestor  of 
the  present  Broynach  earl  ;  and  lastly,  Janet  Sinclair.  A 
great  question  has  been  for  ever  settled  by  this  placing  of  the 
members  of  Broynach 's  family  by  Janet  Ewing  in  their  proper 
sequence  on  irrefragable  evidence.  The  question  of  seniority, 
as  between  David  and  Donald,  in  the  peerage  discussion,  has 
given  a  world  of  trouble.  Reference  to  the  Northern  Ensign 
will  show  the  endless  difficulties  of  coming  to  a  conclusion. 
Three-fourth  of  the  letters  there  contended  for  David,  and  the 
other  fourth  for  Donald,  as  the  elder.  The  discovery  that  there 
was  a  baptised  son  older  than  both  reconciled  all  the  contra- 
dictions. It  put  David  as  second  son  (with  the  satisfactory 
consequence  that  Captain  James  Sinclair,  H.E.I.C.S.,  his  son, 
was  a  true  Earl  of  Caithness),  while  Donald  the  Sailor  took  his 
place  as  third  and  last  son  of  the  family.  Next  to  the  manifold 
establishment  of  Janet  Ewing's  marriage  to  Broynach,  comes  the 
fortunate  and  final  decision  of  the  respective  seniority  and 
juniority  of  her  two  sons  who  reached  manhood  and  had 
descendants.  The  Hon.  David  Sinclair  of  Broynach  was  buried 
at  the  expense  of  his  sister-in-law,  Jean  Carmichael,  the  widow 
of  his  only  brother  Earl  John  ;  wax  candles  and  other  things 
appropriate  to  his  rank  carefully  supj^lied  by  the  countess. 

Earl    Alexander    had  succeeded  his  father   Earl   John  in 


EVENTS.  91 

1705,  and  for  nine  years  this  nephew  was  the  superior  of  his 
uncle  David.  The  antagonism  of  the  father  to  the  Ewincr 
connection  seemed  to  augment  in  the  son,  and  his  lawful  first 
cousins  were  left  to  get  their  living  as  they  best  could.  Their 
mother  at  the  death  of  her  husband  was  taken  by  her  stepson 
James,  of  the  first  family  by  the  daughter  of  Dun,  into  his 
house  on  a  small  freehold  sowing  not  more  than  2\  bolls,  which 
he  had  given  him  by  one  of  these  earls,  son  or  father.  Both 
Broynach's  families  lived  in  this  little  cottage,  and  added  to 
their  scanty  means  by  spinning  and  working  among  the 
ordinary  neighbours  as  well  as  for  their  highborn  relatives. 
James  the  stepson  stayed  much  at  Westfield  House  with  his 
first  cousin  the  Hon.  Francis  Sinclair,  a  brother  of  Earl 
Alexander,  and  was  seldom  at  home  in  Murkle.  Another 
brother  of  the  earl,  Lord  Murkle,  judge  of  the  court  of  session, 
kept  up  some  interest  in  them ;  and  Hon.  Archibald,  the 
remaining  brother  of  the  family,  may  have  been  kind.  No 
male  descent  was  left  by  these  four  brothers,  and  thus  it  was 
that  ultimately  the  impoverished  cousins  and  their  descendants 
became  by  right  of  blood  of  first  importance.  Janet  Ewing 
lived  till  some  year  between  1730  and  1738  ;  her  burial  under 
the  seat  in  the  aisle  of  James  Sinclair  of  Durran,  in  the  church 
of  Olrig,  the  plainest  evidence  that  she  was  considered  a  lady  of 
the  county,  and  lawfully  married  to  the  uncle  of  its  contempor- 
ary earl.  Alexander  M'Ghie  in  1769  swore  it  was  under  the 
seat  of  the  Hon.  Francis  Sinclair  her  husband's  nephew  that 
she  was  buried,  and  not  Durran's  as  other  witnesses  instructed  ; 
but,  in  either  case,  the  inference  of  her  being  accepted  as  the 


92  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

wife  of  an  earl's  brother  is  the  same.  Lady  Margaret  Primrose, 
sister  and  daughter  of  the  Earls  of  Rosebery,  Avho  married  Earl 
Alexander  in  1738,  and  to  whom  she  bore  only  a  daughter, 
Lady  Dorothy  Sinclair,  the  Countess  of  Fife,  deponed  in  1769 
that  she  heard  Lord  Caithness,  her  own  husband,  speaking  of 
Broynach's  "  second  wife  "  Janet  Ewing,  and  regretting  that  he 
had  married  a  woman  beneath  him  in  quality  ;  that  Janet's 
stepson  with  whom  she  resided,  acknowledged  his  father's 
children  by  his  second  wife  as  his  lawful  brothers  and  sisters, 
when  he  used  to  dine  with  the  deponent  at  Hemer  Castle  ; 
that  he  told  her  (Lady  Caithness)  of  a  daughter  of  Janet's  in 
the  neighbourhood,  to  whom  she  gave  linen  and  other  presents, 
a,t  which  Lord  Caithness  expressed  his  pleasure  ;  that  she  had 
the  same  information  from  the  Miss  Sinclair's,  daughters  of 
Southdun,  Earl  Alexander's  nieces  ;  and  that  the  second 
marriage  was  never  contradicted  by  any  person  she  had 
conversed  with,  till  Ratter  denied  it  in  claiming  to  be  next-of- 
kin  to  her  late  husband  the  Earl  of  Caithness.  How  women 
should  be  right  on  such  a  question  is  most  natural,  but  written 
records  of  voluminous  and  perfectly  effective  character  have  put 
the  subject  quite  out  of  the  field  of  controversy. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

DAVID,  EARL  JAMES  HIS  SON,  AND  DONALD. 

There  could  have  been  no  hope  whatever  that  any  of 
Broynach's  second  family  or  their  descendants  would  ever 
succeed  to  the  earldom  of  Caithness  when  David  and  Donald 
were  struggling  to  make  some  headway  in  the  plainest  spheres 
of  life.  Earl  Alexander's  long  tenure  from  1.705  to  1765  of  the 
title,  and  his  marriage  ;  his  three  brothers'  lives,  two  of  whom 
were  married,  who  might  have  sons  ;  James,  the  half-brother,  of 
Broynach's  first  family,  a  bachelor,  but  free  to  chose  a  wife  at 
any  time  before  his  death  in  1 754 ;  dimmed  the  chances  of 
succession  for  Janet  Ewinsfs  descent  almost  to  nothing".  In 
these  circumstances  the  reason  is  to  be  found  why  Janet 
E wing's  sons  were  of  so  little  account  to  the  principal 
representative.  But  against  every  probability  all  obstacles 
between  them  and  the  dignity  vanished,  and  at  the  death  of 
Earl  Alexander  in  1765  David's  son  James  was  Earl  of 
Caithness.  It  is  the  more  surprising  because  Earl  Alexander- 
left  numerous  illegitimate  sons  and  daughters ;  but  his  quarrel 
with  the  Countess  of  Caithness  about  some  of  these  naturals, 
his  consequent  separation  from  her  after  the  birth  of  one 
daughter,  and  his  wife's  survival  of  him,  effectually  stopped  the 
dearest  wish   of  his  being,  namely,  to    have   a  lawful   son  to 


94  CAITHNESS 

succeed  him.  The  bitter  disappointment  jaundiced  him  against 
his  Broynach  next-of-kin,  and  it  became  the  object  of  his 
existence  not  only  to  deprive  the  despised  Janet  Ewing's 
descent  of  the  title,  if  possible,  but  also  of  all  his  own  and  his 
brother's  estates,  to  which  they  were  the  proper  heirs.  In  the 
latter  endeavour  he  entirely  succeeded  by  an  entail  dated 
Hemer,  17th  August,  1761,  which  on  his  death  threw  his 
patrimony  and  acquired  lands,  as  well  as  the  lands  of  his 
dead  brothers,  into  the  possession  of  Sir  John  Sinclair 
of  Stevenston,  Haddingtonshire,  whose  surname  was  the  sole 
tie  of  infinitely  distant  relationship.  His  own  daughter,  too, 
the  Countess  of  Fife,  though  she  had  her  father's  personalty  of 
£40,000,  lost,  by  his  intrigues  with  George  Sinclair,  Lord 
Woodhall  of  the  court  of  session,  his  favourite  of  the 
Stevenstons,  properties  destined  for  her  by  her  Sinclair  uncles. 
Woodhall  was  put  last  in  the  list  of  heirs  of  entail,  and  Sir 
John  as  his  heir  succeeded  to  the  lands.  Earl  Alexander's 
family  pride  was  monstrous.  Of  Ratter,  who  had  the  position 
of  a  Caithness  laird,  he  wrote  that  he  was  "  of  very  remote  kin 
to  him,  that  he  had  but  a  very  small  estate,  that  he  was  a  good 
deal  in  debt,  that  he  had  no  education,  and  that  he  never  had 
been  in  good  company."  Sweden  was  not  too  far  for  the  aged 
earl  to  have  been  searching  for  a  dignified  enough  male  heir ; 
but  he  ultimately,  to  the  inscrutable  wrong  of  his  immediate 
relatives,  whom  he  knew  to  be  lawful,  dropped  on  the 
Stevenstons  in  a  generosity  of  which  private  malice  and  despair 
of  legal  offspring  were  the  motives.  While  there  was  no  danger 
of  David  or  Donald  coming  to  the  title  and  estates,  the  four 


EVENTS.  95 

brothers  took  a  general  but  hardly  the  right  kinship  interest  in 
them  ;  at  all  events,  Earl  Alexander  kept  them  at  a  distance. 
Donald  Watt  in  the  "informations"  of  1769  swore  that  the 
Hon.  Francis  Sinclair  of  Westfield  "  took  care  of  Donald,  one 
of  Broynach's  sons  by  Janet  Ewing,  in  the  same  way  one  does 
a  friend/'  and  that  Broynach's  relatives  generally  were  kind  to 
the  other  children,  "  having  little  of  their  own,  if  they  had  not 
got  it  from  them."  In  small  things  there  were  many  civilities 
and  aids ;  but  in  essential  rights  there  was  conspiracy  to  defraud 
them,  and  till  now  the  effects  have  been  disastrously  working. 

David's  biography  is  wonderfully  in  detail.  He  was  born 
in  February,  1701,  baptised  in  Claredon  Hall  about  1705, 
married  to  Margaret  More,  i.e.,  Mackay,  in  1744,  the  contract 
21st  October  by  Thurso  parish  register  (her  baptism  on  October 
5th,  1723).  and  died  about  1760.  Bev.  William  Innes  at  his 
christening  when  he  was  four  years  old,  on  application  of  the 
water  had  the  startling  reproof,  "  May  the  devil  take  you  for 
wetting  me  ; "  and  incidents  upon  incidents  are  preserved  of  his 
chequered  and  unhappy  life,  especially  in  Batter's  proof.  His 
noble  cousins  first  put  him  on  board  a  ship  to  become  a  sailor. 
If  he  were  drowned  they  wTould  not  perhaps  much  regret  the 
accident,  but  from  that  chance  he  escaped  by  promptly 
returning  to  Murkle.  He  next  took  to  kelp-burning  in 
Strathnaver,  where  he  fell  ill  of  flux  or  dysentery.  Mackay  of 
Clashinach,  who  was  a  relative  of  the  Murkle  earls,  at  the 
direction  of  Dr.  William  Sinclair,  Thurso,  Earl  Alexander's 
physician  and  kinsman,  gave  money  to  David  to  help  him 
during  his  illness,  and  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  earl  repaid  it. 


96  CAITHNESS 

David  worked  afterwards  as  a  day-labourer  with  Charles 
Oliphant,  a  servant  of  the  laird  of  Ulbster ;  and  he  was  also 
man-servant  to  Rev.  James  Gilchrist,  who  was  minister  of 
Thurso  from  1738  to  1751.  The  Dutch  war  began  in  February, 
1743,  and  ended  with  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  on  18th 
October,  1748,  in  which  the  battles  of  Dettingen  and  Fontenoy 
were  fought ;  David  a  private  soldier  on  the  British  and  Dutch 
side  against  the  French.  He  enlisted  "  with  John  Milne  in 
Thurso  for  behoof  of  a  recruiting  officer  in  the  Dutch  service." 
"When  he  returned  from  the  Netherlands,  he  and  his  wife  and 
their  eldest  son  James  went  to  what  was  then  called  the  Moray 
side,  being  the  southern  shore  of  the  firth  of  that  name.  There 
they  stayed  for  three  years,  returning  to  Thurso,  he  in  a  "  very 
bad  state  of  health."  Evidence  is  given  that  he  was  supported 
with  his  wife  and  family,  consisting  of  only  two  sons,  James 
and  John,  and  possibly  some  daughters,  by  his  cousin  the  Hon. 
Francis  Sinclair  of  Westfield  and  others  of  the  Caithness 
house.  The  cost  even  of  his  fir  coffin,  10  shillings,  "such  a 
coffin  as  is  commonly  made  for  the  country  people,"  is  sworn 
to  with  the  important  additional  fact  that  it  was  Westfield  who 
paid  for  it.  Of  all  the  Broynachs  he  perhaps  had  to  drink  the 
bitterest  cup  of  degradation  from  his  birthright  rank.  His 
remains  lie  in  Thurso  churchyard,  his  cousin  Lord  Caithness 
refusing  to  allow  him  to  be  buried  in  the  Murkle  aisle  of  St. 
Peter's  Church  among  his  noble  kin.  But  time  brings  its 
revenges,  and  his  eldest  son  is  now  known  to  have  been  James, 
Earl  of  Caithness,  from  1765  to  1788,  the  gallant  Captain 
Sinclair,  H.E.I.C.S. 


EVENTS.  97 

To  what  has  already  been  said  of  this  Earl  James,  whose 
efforts  have  been  the  chief  element  in  the  rehabilitation  of 
his  lineage,  something  further  must  here  be  given.  In  1767 
he  had  a  brother  John,  page  27  of  Henderson's  "Family 
History "  states,  from  some  unknown  but,  it  may  be,  good 
authority.  The  text  of  James's  will  in  Somerset  House,  of 
dates  1785  and  1787,  makes  no  mention  of  a  brother  or  sister 
among  the  relatives  benefited ;  his  maternal  aunt  Janet  More 
(Mrs.  John  Paterson),  Durran,  having  £200  sterling,  and  the 
grandchildren  of  his  paternal  aunt  Elizabeth  Sinclair,  Broynach's 
daughter  by  the  first  wife,  best  known  as  Mrs.  Whyte,  getting 
also  £200  sterling.  The  conclusion  is  unavoidable  that  he  was 
then  the  last  of  the  children  of  his  father  and  mother  David 
Sinclair  and  Margaret  More  ;  for  it  is  inconceivable  that  he 
would  leave  nothing  to  brother  or  sister  if  any  survived  at  that 
time,  his  kin  feeling  exceptionally  strong  by  superabundant 
proofs.  Being  therefore  the  end  of  his  branch,  the  peerage 
passed  from  him  directly  to  the  eldest  son  of  his  uncle  Donald. 
Of  the  captain's  personal  history  a  great  deal  has  survived.  It 
could  be  told  on  many  a  page  how  he  married  Catherine  Bosie, 
and  made  her  Countess  of  Caithness,  the  contract  at  Reiss  17th 
December,  1763,  by  parish  register,  she  born  in  1747  at  Brims, 
on  the  same  authority  ;  how  her  father  had  found  treasure  in  a 
field  at  Oust,  and  backed  the  young  pair  in  fighting  their  rights 
before  the  court  of  session  and  parliament ;  how  on  21st  August, 
1766,  at  the  meeting  of  the  peers  of  Scotland  at  Holyrood 
House  to  elect  a  representative  peer  for  the  House  of  Lords,  he 
answered  to  the  title  of  Earl  of  Caithness  on  the  calling  of  the 

N 


98  CAITHNESS 

roll,  and  claimed  his  place  and  vote  at  the  election,  but  was 
objected  to  till  he  proved  his  right;  how  the  Right  Hon.  Henry, 
Lord  Borthwick,  on  1st  October,  1767,  at  an  election  of  two 
representative  peers,  produced  a  proxy  of  his  signed  "  James, 
Earl  of  Caithness,"  and  demanded  to  vote  for  him,  but  was  not 
permitted;  how  on  21st  December,  1768,  in  Holyrood  House  at 
another  election  he  personally  answered  to  the  title  of  Earl 
of  Caithness,  and,  on  the  Lord  Clerk  Register  objecting  officially, 
gave  in  a  protest  signed  Caithness  (for  all  which  peerage  doings 
see  Robertson's  "  Proceedings  ")  ;  how  he  attended  courts, 
commissions  for  evidence,  the  court  of  session,  and  at  last  the 
House  of  Lords  till  his  defeat  in  1772  by  William  Sinclair  of 
Ratter  on  the  one  and  cardinal  point  of  not  being  able  to  prove 
Broynach's  marriage  to  Janet  Ewing,  his  grandfather  and 
grandmother  ;  how  he  sailed  for  Calcutta  on  the  Anson  in 
February  of  that  year  a  cadet  of  the  East  India  Company, 
distinguished  himself  in  affairs  under  Warren  Hastings,  and 
returned  in  June,  1786,  with  the  title  of  captain,  and  possessed 
of  a  handsome  fortune  ;  how  he  discovered  in  Caithness  the 
ecclesiastical  proofs  of  his  grandparents'  marriage,  and  immedi- 
ately entered  on  a  process  of  reduction  against  the  second  sham 
Ratter  earl,  the  opposing  printed  cases  dated,  his  25th  July,  1787, 
and  John  of  Ratter's  28th  July,  1787,  the  captain's  containing 
the  new  information,  with  additions  in  MS.,  he  also  producing 
the  extracts  from  the  Caithness  kirk  records  ;  and,  lastly,  how, 
on  the  eve  of  winning  the  contest,  wThich  ought  never  to  have 
been  entered  upon,  he  died  on  11th  January,  1788,  with,  as  far 
as   himself  was    concerned,   his  labour   lost,   but    now,   after  a 


EVENTS.  99 

century's  somnolence  of  the  evidence,  the  restoration  to  his 
blood  of  their  undoubted  right  to  the  title  of  Ear]  of  Caithness. 
Thanks  to  this  brave  man,  the  Broynachs  are  known  to  be  the 
head  of  the  house  of  Sinclair,  their  cause  triumphant  by  the 
patient  unravelling  of  an  intricate  web  of  injustices,  be}~ond  all 
ordinary  conception  in  their  number  and  variety.  A  quotation 
will  give  his  own  version  of  his  rights,  when  he  protested  thus 
at  Holyrood  House  :  "  That  his  propinquity  to  the  late  Earl  of 
Caithness  was  notorious,  he  being  son  and  heir  of  the  deceased 
David  Sinclair,  who  was  lawful  son  and  heir  of  the  deceased 
David  Sinclair  of  Broinach  [he  used  this  spelling  also  in  his 
will],  who  was  the  only  brother-german  of  Sir  John  Sinclair  of 
Murkle,  afterwards  Earl  of  Caithness,  father  to  the  said 
Alexander,  last  Earl  of  Caithness,  lately  deceased  ;  and  that  he, 
James  Sinclair,  is  now  nearest  heir-male  of  the  said  Alexander, 
Earl  of  Caithness,  his  father's  first  cousin,  and  thereby  succeeds 
to  the  title  and  dignity  of  Earl  of  Caithness."  The  results  of 
time  and  investigation  have  corroborated  every  word  of  this 
extract  from  his  "  written  paper  "  at  the  election  of  the  Duke  of 
Atholl  in  room  of  the  deceased  William,  Earl  of  Sutherland, 
in  1766. 

Of  Donald  the  Sailor,  Janet  E wing's  third  son,  the  uncle 
of  Earl  James,  the  last  of  David's  sons,  much  also  is  known. 
In  youth  he  was  entertained  at  Westfield  House  by  his  first 
cousin  the  Hon.  Francis  Sinclair,  as  has  been  seen  ;  and,  unlike 
his  brother  David,  lie  took  the  advice  of  his  cousins  to  go  to 
sea.  In  due  course  they  must  have  aided  him  to  the  ownership 
of  a  trading  vessel,  of  which  he  was  himself  captain  ;   and  from 


100  CAITHNESS 

Sarclet,  near  Wick,  to  Avoch  in  the  Black  Isle,  Ross-shire,  was 
his  principal  route,  though  he  trafficked  freely  on  both  sides  of 
the  Moray  Firth  with  other  places,  Banff  in  particular.  He 
found  his  way  to  Sarclet  from  the  Thurso  side  through  his 
half-sister  Elizabeth's  marriage  to  James  Whyte  in  Thurso, 
who  was  previously  in  Meikle  Clyth.  Donald  was  about 
twenty-one  when  they  married  in  1726,  and  his  brother-in-law's 
connections  with  the  Wick  side  no  doubt  brought  him  there  : 
Oags  of  that  coast  being  similarly  conversant  with  the  two 
districts,  and  related  to  the  Broynachs.  On  25th  October, 
1736,  by  Wick  parish  register,  Donald  the  Sailor  contracted 
with  Catherine,  daughter  of  John  Sinclair  in  Thrumster,  the 
marriage  taking  place  on  the  30th  November  following.  His 
daughter  Christina  was  born  on  27th  March,  1737,  but  the 
ecclesiastical  temper  had  grown  milder  since  his  grandparents' 
sufferings,  or  rather  power  to  invoke  the  civil  magistrate's  aid 
had  been  taken  away  from  the  kirk,  and  there  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  any  exercise  of  discipline,  the  child  perfectly  law- 
ful, as  born  within  wedlock.  Their  children  have  been  traced 
from  the  registers  in  the  order  of  birth,  Janet  next  to  Christina, 
Catherine  the  third,  Daniel-Anne  the  fourth,  as  if  they  feared 
there  were  to  be  no  sons  and  his  own  name  would  go  into 
oblivion.  At  last  their  eldest  son  came,  who  is  registered 
thus: — "1744,  May  14th,  Donald  Sinclair  in  Sarclet  had  a 
child  baptized  named  James,  the  witnesses  John  Sutherland, 
James  Hill."  This  is  James  the  chamberlain,  who  became 
Earl  of  Caithness  on  the  death  in  1788  of  his  first  cousin  the 
Indian  captain,  also  Earl  James.     The  register  of  Wick  parish 


EVENTS.  101 

gives  the  baptisms  of  others  of  the  large  family,  Francis,  John, 
Robert,  Henry,  Elizabeth,  and  references  which  authenticate  a 
Donald  ;  but  it  is  only  necessary  here  to  quote  the  entry  of 
James,  the  representative  of  the  lineage.  Every  scrap  of 
record  evidence  authenticating  all  these  persons  has  been  given 
in  the  Northern  Ensign  ;  and,  with  a  wealth  of  notices  most 
unexpected,  the  steps  of  pedigree  are  scientifically  established. 
From  Donald  the  Sailor  downwards  to  the  present  Earl  James, 
as  will  be  indicated,  though  not  elaborated  to  the  full  as  in  the 
newspaper  letters,  there  is  an  absolutely  perfect  chain  of  the 
proper  persons,  which  no  discussion  can  possibly  break. 

Next  to  the  marriage  of  Broynach  with  Janet  Ewing,  it 
has  been  always  felt  that  the  point  most  important  to  prove, 
was  that  this  Donald,  Sarclet,  who  traded  to  Avoch  princi- 
pally, must  be  veritably  their  son,  the  immediate  younger 
brother  of  David.  Consequently  no  pains  have  been  spared, 
and  an  amazing  quantity  of  knowledge  is  collected  and  ready 
for  the  testing  of  the  keenest  intellect,  private  or  professional. 
Besides  records,  not  only  have  numerous  relatives  on  the 
Caithness  side  of  the  Moray  Firth,  but  also  on  its  southern, 
testified  to  the  doings  of  Captain  Donald  Sinclair,  disinterested 
strangers  adding  largely  to  the  evidence  about  the  Sailor,  as  he 
was  everywhere  called.  A  descendant  of  his,  the  Rev.  John 
Sinclair,  Kinloch-Rannoch  Manse,  Perthshire,  has  of  himself 
established  Donald's  sonship  to  Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing. 
One  of  the  most  effective  of  his  numerous  evidences  is  a  Gaelic 
stanza  written  about  his  own  grandfather,  a  farmer  and  distiller 
near   Avoch.     It   was  composed   by  William  Bain  Nimmo,   a 


102  CAITHNESS 

local  poet,  more  than  seventy-five  years  ago,  and  runs  thus  : — 

"  Seumas  Sinclair  am  Mordun, 
Ogh  coir  Dho'ill  a  Mhairich, 
Is  ierogh  Fhir  Bhroidlmich, 
Roimh  so  an  Gall  thaobh." 

■which  translated  is  : — 

"  James  Sinclair  in  Moredun, 

The  worthy  grandson  of  Donald  the  Sailor, 
And  the  great-grandson  of  the  laird  of  Broynach, 
Who  was  before  now  in  Caithness." 

That  this  laird  is  no  other  than  Janet  E wing's  husband  is 
settled  by  the  fact  that  he  was  the  only  Sinclair  who  ever 
really  was  called  Broynach,  in  the  Scotch  laird  manner ;  and  the 
time  needed  for  the  above  descent  has  the  same  conclusion. 
Nothing  can  shake  it  ;  and  as  James  in  Moredun  Farm  was, 
by  existing  records,  the  son  of  William  Sinclair  in  the  same 
neighbourhood  of  Avoch,  to  which  Donald  traded,  William  was 
the  son  of  the  Sailor.  The  evidence  is  from  within  the  family, 
and  therefore  specially  valuable  in  pedigree  law.  Another 
example,  of  the  many  published  in  the  Northern  Ensign, 
identifying  Donald  the  Sailor  as  the  son  of  Broynach  by  Janet 
Ewing,  comes  from  the  inscription  on  a  tombstone  in  A\Toch 
churchyard  : — "  Marjory  Sinclair,  daughter  of  the  late  Mr. 
Sinclair  of  Dun,  Caithness-shire,  died  24th  April,  1814."  She 
was  the  wife  of  Mr.  Finlayson  there,  and  through  her  to  this 
day  the  Finlaysons  claim  kin  to  the  Moredun  or  Muirends 
family  as  descended  from  Broynach.  Marjory's  paternal  aunt 
was    Broynach's   first    wife,    and    hence    the   affinity   tie.       In 


EVENTS.  103 

historical  narrative  specimens  of  the  character  of  the  inquiries 
are  enough,  but  legal  argument  requires  the  collection  of  all  the 
facts  that  have  true  bearing,  in  this  case  unusually  numerous 
and  conclusive. 

Authentication  of  Captain  Donald  Sinclair  the  Sailor  at 
Sarclet,  a  village  with  a  harbour,  three  miles  from  Wick,  has 
been  ample,  as  might  be  expected  from  it  being  his  domicile 
through  his  whole  adult  life  till  his  death  in  1768,  the  register 
showing  he  was  the  only  one  there  of  his  name.  Christina 
Sinclair  (Widow  Manson),  Sarclet,  aged  79,  declared  on  April 
29th,  1891,  that  Donald  the  Sailor  was  father  of  her  father's 
father,  and  therefore  her  great-grandfather  ;  that  his  work  was 
trading  up  and  down  the  Moray  Firth  from  Sarclet  to  Avoch  ; 
and  that  he  was  -buried  in  Thrumster  churchyard.  She  also 
stated  that  James  the  chamberlain  at  Thrumster  House  was  his 
eldest  son,  adding  many  details  about  the  rest  of  his  sons  and 
daughters.  Her  nephew,  George  Sinclair,  Thrumster,  aged  69, 
in  1893  stated  that  his  own  father  John  always  told  him  that 
Donald  the  Sailor  was  buried  there,  as  well  as  James  the 
chamberlain  his  eldest  son,  and  others  of  the  Broynach  descent. 
George  also  said  that  the  lineage  subject  was  a  constant  one 
within  the  family,  and  he  gave  as  an  example  the  habit  of  a  son 
of  James  the  chamberlain  taking  him  jocularly  by  the  ear  when 
a  child  saying,  "  You  are  a  true  Broynach."  Eight  gravestones 
arranged  side  by  side  in  a  perfect  row  were  shown  by  George  as 
covering  Sinclairs  of  this  line.  Elizabeth  Sinclair  (Mrs.  Cor- 
mack),  Beiss,  aged  87,  in  1893  said  that  her  father's  father  was 
"  buried    in    the    chapel    of  Thrumster,"    meaning   James    the 


104  CAITHNESS 

chamberlain,  who  was  placed,  George  says,  in  his  father  Donald 
the  Sailor's  grave.  The  "  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland  "  of 
1793  mentions  that  there  was  a  ruined  papal  building  there.  It 
has  disappeared  ;  but  burial  within  its  consecrated  precincts, 
implies  general  knowledge  of  these  Sinclairs  being  the  house  of 
Caithness,  and  consequent  selection  of  the  best  place  of  sepul- 
ture. After  the  decision  in  favour  of  Ratter  in  1772,  they  were 
oppressed  by  the  false  insinuation  that  they  were  all  bastards ; 
but,  though  silent  to  the  outside  mind,  because  they  had  not  the 
proof  of  Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing's  marriage,  they  never 
ceased  among  themselves  to  cherish  the  truth  of  their  lawfulness. 
Mrs.  Manson  asserted  that  the  constant  rule  of  honour  amon^ 
them  was  the  reference,  when  actions  were  to  be  tested,  to  them 
being  worthy  or  not  worthy  of  a  Broynach. 

On  24th  June,  1891,  a  conjunct  paper  was  composed  by 
David  and  James  Sinclair,  great-grandsons  of  Donald  the 
Sailor,  wealthy  and  intelligent  colonists  at  Geelong,  Victoria; 
the  former  born  in  1812,  the  latter  in  1815.  They  stated  that 
Donald  was  a  captain  and  shipowner  descended  from  the  eider 
lords  of  Caithness,  and  that  his  people  were  wrongly  put  out  of 
their  inheritance.  Their  grandfather  James  the  chamberlain 
was  his  eldest  son,  and  they  gave  the  names  of  most  of  James's 
brothers  and  sisters ;  Anne,  of  whom  hereafter,  among  the 
latter,  Daniel- Anne  of  the  registers.  A  son  of  David,  Peter, 
Christchurch,  New  Zealand,  wrote  on  24th  July,  1891,  that  he 
often  heard  his  father's  eldest  brother  Alexander,  born  in  1810, 
say  that  his  great-grandfather,  Donald  the  Sailor,  had  a  craft  of 
his  own,  and  traded  with  her  round  the  coast  of  Caithness  and 


EVENTS.  105 

the  neighbouring  counties  ;  and,  further,  that  James  the 
chamberlain,  Alexander's  grandfather,  was  the  right  Earl  of 
Caithness,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  usurping  Meys.  Peter 
quite  remembered  his  own  father  David  stating  many  times 
that  Donald  the  Sailor  was  his  great-grandfather.  Mrs.  James 
Sinclair,  Chatsworth  House,  Geelong,  wife  of  one  of  these 
brothers,  wrote  that  her  brother-in-law,  the  deceased  Alexander, 
was  an  authority  on  the  history  and  traditions  of  his  ancestors, 
and  that  she  had  often  heard  him  say  that  his  paternal  great- 
grandfather was  a  sea-captain,  and  owned  the  vessel  of  which 
he  was  captain.  Another  brother,  George  Dunbar  Sinclair 
(1814-1891),  Beay,  had  similar  traditions  of  lost  title  and  estate, 
with  many  corroborative  details.  Wherever  a  Broynach  was, 
he  or  she  preserved  those  precious  memories. 

The  learned  Tullochs  of  the  county,  who  are  in  affinity  to 
the  Broynachs  through  Catherine  Bosie,  Countess  of  Caithness, 
whose  mother  was  Tulloch,  have  given  detailed  unmistakable 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  claim  to  the  earldom.  John 
Tulloch  in  Thrumster  signed  a  statement  on  15th  July,  1891, 
his  aofe  then  69,  full  of  knowledge  from  his  ancestors,  one  of 
whom  was  factor  at  Hemer  Castle  to  the  Earl  Alexander  who 
wronged  Janet  Ewing's  descendants  so  bitterly  and  effectually. 
At  Sarclet,  he  said,  it  was  well  known  who  the  Sinclairs  were  ; 
for  the  Tulloch  family  always  maintained  "  Bochie  Davie's  " 
descendants  should  have  been  the  earls  ;  his  uncle  Josiah 
Tulloch  often  remarking  what  a  lasting  disgrace  it  was  that 
James  the  chamberlain  died  in  Sarclet  without  recognition  of 
his    being    Earl    of    Caithness,    attributing    the    fact    to    the 


10G  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 

"rascality"  of  the  impostors  who  held  that  title.  Benjamin 
Henderson,  Hill  of  Forss,  whose  mother  was  one  of  these 
Tullochs,  and  whose  evidence  is  therefore  privileged  pedigree 
matter,  aged  80,  stated  on  10th  June,  1891,  that  there  was  no 
doubt  the  Broynachs  had  the  best  right  to  the  earldom,  and  he 
gave  numerous  details,  even  to  rhymes,  about  the  contest 
ending  so  disastrously  to  truth  and  justice  in  1772,  his  mother 
often  handling  the  coins  which  Earl  James's  father-in-law  found 
in  a  field  at  Oust,  she  being  governess  in  John  Rosie's  house. 
He  mentioned  that  Lord  Hemer  proposed  that  his  only  lawful 
child,  Lady  Dorothy  Sinclair,  afterwards  Countess  Fife,  should 
marry  James,  and  so  unite  interests,  but  that  she  refused. 

As  anything  like  special  pleading  has  to  be  avoided  in 
historical  narrative,  there  cannot  be  more  references  to  the 
large  body  of  family  evidence  about  Donald  the  Sailor  ;  and  the 
interesting  corroborative  statements  of  strangers,  carefully  dated 
and  signed  for  most  part,  can  only  have  mention  of  some  of 
their  authors'  names,  as  Alexander  Budge,  Robert  Sutherland, 
William  Clark,  William  Cormack,  Joseph  Adamson,  William 
Stewart,  Johan  McLeod  (Mrs.  Don),  and  others  having 
knowledge  specially  of  the  Sarclet  district  ;  the  newspaper 
preserving  in  full  everybody's  words  of  integrity  and  good-will. 
If  legal  experts  are  not  satisfied  with  what  identification  of 
Donald  the  Sailor  as  third  son  of  Broynach  and  Janet  Ewing 
is  here  historically  displayed,  they  are  recommended  to  the 
Northern  Ensigns  columns  for  further  and,  it  is  believed, 
incontestably  complete  satisfaction. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

JAMES  THE  CHAMBERLAIN  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 

On  10th  September,  1893,  Elizabeth  More,  aged  90,  widow, 
Sarclet,  was  visited,  and  gave  excellent  information.  She 
pointed  out  the  house,  in  the  straight  and  only  street  of  the 
village,  where  James  the  chamberlain  died.  Being  asked  the 
name  of  the  chamberlain's  father,  she  repeated  again  and  again 
that  it  was  Donald,  and  Donald  alone  ;  and  that  she  knew  this 
from  his  people,  because  he  was  dead  before  her  time.  These 
Sinclairs,  she  said,  were  strangers  to  Sarclet  originally, 
"  foreigners,"  to  use  her  word,  as  from  the  Thurso  side ;  and 
while  in  Sarclet  they  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  Moray, 
Inverness,  and  Ross,  especially  with  Avoch,  which  she  pro- 
nounced, rightly,  Auch.  She  remembered  the  chamberlain 
quite  well  going  daily  to  his  salt-pan  at  Sarclet  Harbour  when 
she  was  a  young  girl,  and  she  was  in  constant  acquaintance 
with  his  sons  and  daughters  and  their  children.  He  had  left 
Thrumster  House  during  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

In  trading  his  salt  he  followed  much  the  same  routes  as 
his  father  Captain  Donald  Sinclair,  and  used  to  bring  back, 
chiefly  from  Inverness,  cloth  and  other  merchandise  to  traffic 
with  in  Caithness.  The  Tullochs  said  that  he  never  wrould  put 
his  foot  in  the  parishes  of  Olrig,  Bower,  and   Thurso,  to  do 


108  CAITHNESS 

business,  because  of  the  sufferings  of  his  people  in  that  quarter, 
Janet  Ewing's  in  particular.  There  has  been  any  amount  of 
personal  testimony  to  the  facts  of  his  life  by  living  and  dead 
witnesses  ;  but,  as  the  parish  registers  contain  numerous  entries 
about  him,  many  more  than  are  sufficient  to  establish  him  as  a 
link  of  the  chain  of  descent,  it  is  the  less  necessary  to  quote  largely. 
He  contracted  with  Anne  Robertson  on  27th  April,  1764,  by 
whom  he  had  his  eldest  son  Alexander,  who  was  baptized  17th 
January,  1768,  his  father's  successor  as  Earl  of  Caithness.  His 
wife  died  in  1770,  and  he  married  Elizabeth  Sinclair  in  Clyth 
on  9th  February,  1771,  by  whom  he  had  Francis,  born  in  1772, 
who  became  a  lieutenant  R.N.,  dying  without  issue ;  David, 
born  in  1777,  who  married  Catherine  Mackay,  but  had  no 
children  ;  and  lastly,  John,  baptized  9th  January,  1780,  who 
had  thirteen  sons  and  daughters,  the  author  of  "  Caithness 
Events  "  his  third  son's  second  son,  whose  efforts  in  evidence 
and  writing  are  thus  from  within  the  peerage  family,  and 
therefore  have  the  greater  credentials  according  to  pedigree 
law.  Margaret,  Catherine,  Christina,  were  the  chamberlain's 
daughters,  Christina  of  the  second  marriage.  It  is  with 
Alexander,  however,  that  the  principal  interest  lies. 

Before  referring  to  him,  something  may  be  said  of  the 
chamberlain's  sister  Anne,  as  showing  the  knowledge  which 
Earl  Alexander,  Hemer  Castle,  and  his  brothers,  had  of  their 
first  cousin  Donald  the  Sailor,  and  of  his  children.  The  only 
lawful  child  of  this  Lord  Hemer,  as  he  used  to  be  called,  Lady 
Dorothy  Sinclair,  Countess  of  Fife,  had  Donald's  daughter 
Anne  as  her  companion  at  Duff  House,  Banff;  and  both  Earl 


EVENTS.  109 

Alexander  and  Lord  Murkle  his  brother  left  her  the  then 
goodly  sums  of  £50  sterling  each  ;  the  latter  having  brought 
her  up,  as  he  also  did  her  aunt  Elizabeth  Sinclair,  Mrs.  Whyte, 
Broynach's  daughter  by  his  first  wife,  educating  them  in  Edin- 
burgh. What  could  be  better  proof  that  Lord  Caithness  and 
his  brothers  knew  perfectly  who  the  Sarclet  Sinclairs  were  ? 
That  they  were  not  then  the  next-of-kin  for  the  peerage  allowed 
them  favour  though  they  were  descended  from  Janet  Ewing, 
whose  husband  always  treated  her  as  a  lady  by  birth,  the  earl 
despising  her  quality,  as  daughter  of  what  he  would  call  a 
bonnet  laird.  To  the  children  of  Captain  Donald  Sinclair  the 
Sailor,  the  Hon.  Francis,  who  was  a  specially  generous  man, 
must  have  been  also  kind  and  helpful.  He  was  the  chief 
support  of  the  tabooed  eldest  living  son  of  Janet  Ewing,  David 
the  day-labourer  and  soldier,  as  also  of  his  family,  including  the 
dreaded  son  James,  the  proper  heir  to  the  earldom  after  Earl 
Alexander's  decease.  In  Ratter's  proof  there  seems  to  be 
evidence  that  the  earl  was  plotting  with  James  Murray  of 
Pennyland  to  get  the  young  James,  afterwards  Captain, 
H.E.I.C.S.,  and  Earl  of  Caithness,  shipped  off  to  the  deadly 
chances  of  America,  with  the  gift  of  £20  sterling,  then  a  large 
sum,  and  a  free  passage  in  a  Captain  Stirling's  ship.  The 
youth  knew  his  rights  too  well  to  accept  such  riddance  of  him 
as  favour.  If  he  had  gone  out  of  sight  for  ever,  the  Sarclets 
might  have  been  favoured  and  had  the  lands  with  the  title,  the 
sonless  noble  brothers  apparently  less  prejudiced  against  them. 
Counsel  at  Edinburgh  in  1769  said  publicly  that  Earl  Alexander 
destroyed   the    parish    register   entry   of  Broynach  and  Janet 


110  CAITHNESS 

E wing's  marriage,  as  Ratter  tried  to  do  with  the  Olrig  minutes 
of  kirk-session  in  his  own  house,  Mr.  Oliphant  their  keeper 
preventing  him.  These  doings  of  Earl  Alexander  were  against 
the  common  soldier,  his  first  cousin,  and  the  eldest  son  of  this 
despised  relative.  It  might  have  been  otherwise  if  it  had  been 
the  energetic  Sarclets  who  were  to  succeed ;  but  who  can  gauge 
the  thoughts  of  the  man  ?  His  deeds  are  clear,  with  all  their 
evil  results,  to  this  hour,  amoDg  his  nearest  lawful  kin.  Of 
Anne  or  Daniel- Anne,  the  companion,  who  married  Alexander 
Mellis,  factor  for  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Fife,  much  has  been 
found  in  Banff  parish  register,  and  more  from  a  collection  of 
34,000  documents  belonging  to  the  Scotch  estates  of  the  Duke 
of  Fife.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  her  other  four  sisters 
were  benefited,  as  it  might  be  possible,  one  of  them,  Elizabeth, 
having  education  enough  to  make  her  a  school-mistress ;  the 
brothers  also,  it  is  believed,  aided  after  the  kinship  manner. 
But  these  are  points  of  interest  rather  than  of  importance. 

To  return  to  an  unrecognised  Earl  Alexander,  the  eldest 
son  of  Earl  James  the  chamberlain.  He  and  his  eldest  son 
James  were  the  farmers  of  Torranrevach,  in  Clyth  ;  both  of 
them  continually  asserting  rights  of  which  they  only  vaguely 
knew  the  particulars,  the  deprivation  of  lands  being  the  tradition 
they  cherished  even  more  than  the  title ;  time  gradually 
dimming  facts,  as  it  must,  to  the  Broynachs  themselves,  record 
and  learning  alone  able  to  recover  the  lost  threads  through  the 
many  years  of  the  story.  By  Latheron  parish  register  he  was 
married  on  2nd  January,  1789,  to  Elizabeth  Sutherland;  and 
his   eldest  son,   the   above  James,  was  born  in   1790,   though 


EVENTS.  Ill 

unfortunately  there  does  not  seem  to  be  in  any  register  the 
record  of  his  baptism,  registration  then  not  compulsory.  In 
the  whole  range  of  persons  from  Broynach  to  the  present  earl, 
this  is  the  only  register  difficulty ;  but  the  want  can  be  supplied 
by  an  abundance  of  testimonies  from  living  witnesses  as  to  his 
order  of  eldest  in  his  father's  family.  This  Earl  James  was 
drowned  at  the  shore  of  Clyth  in  August,  1845.  He  is  registered 
as  married  on  7th  December,  1832,  to  Catherine  Sutherland; 
and  their  children's  names  appear  in  perfect  order,  the  eldest 
son  James  Sutherland  Laing  Sinclair,  late  Earl  of  Caithness, 
born  27th  May,  1838,  and  who  died  3rd  March,  1893.  Of  this 
the  14th  earl,  in  the  true  numbering,  the  marriage  to  Margaret 
Grant  (a  niece  of  Lieutenant  Hugh  Grant,  79th  regiment),  has 
not  been  yet  searched  for  in  the  register,  because  the  event  is 
known  to  any  number  of  contemporaries,  and  the  fact  can  at  a 
moment  be  found  owing  to  the  surety  of  compulsory  registra- 
tion. Nor  has  the  entry  of  the  birth  of  the  eldest  son,  the  present 
Earl  of  Caithness,  said  to  be  on  14th  October,  1866,  been 
verified  in  the  local  registrar's  books.  These  are  easy  matters, 
on  which  there  is  too  much  everyday  knowledge  to  require 
record  consultation,  though  this  will  be  duly  done  when 
necessary  or  desirable.  The  fifteenth  earl,  like  his  ancestor 
Donald,  is  a  sailor  ;  but,  in  the  deep  seas,  and  in  the  era  of 
the  steamship,  his  experiences  are  different.  America,  Africa, 
China,  Japan,  the  Mediterranean,  there  are  few  places  which 
ships  frequent  where  he  has  not  been.  Whether  or  not  Earl 
James's  native  ability,  ancestral  tradition,  and  luck  may  compel 
soon  the  universal  acknowledgment  of  his  blood  rights,  there 


112  CAITHNESS 

can  be  no  doubt  that  John  Sutherland  Sinclair,  Berried  ale 
Farm,  Dakota,  U.S.A.,  as  "  Earl  of  Caithness,"  is  a  glaring 
sham  and  imposture.  What  will  be  done  remains  to  be  seen. 
The  truth  is  strong,  but  shall  it  conquer  ?  If  Earl  James  fail 
to  do  himself  justice,  or  if  he  should  die  unmarried,  he  has 
many  brothers,  his  immediate  next  kin,  and  numerous  male 
collaterals,  who  henceforth  as  they  may  be  called  upon,  will, 
with  sleepless  persistency,  maintain  what  contest  may  be  im- 
perative, till  the  final  settlement,  according  to  honour  and  law 
and  righteousness,  of  the  Caithness  now  misplaced  dignity,  is 
accomplished. 

The  entail  dated  Hemer  17th  August,  1761,  which  Earl 
Alexander  made  of  his  lands  of  Murkle,  Broynach,  Isauld, 
Shebster,  Westfleld,  Forsie,  Ormlie,  Brims,  &c,  threw  them  at 
his  death  in  1765  into  the  possession  of  Sir  John  Sinclair  of 
Stevens  ton,  Haddingtonshire,  who  was  not  a  relative ;  and  Sir 
Robert,  the  direct  male  descendant,  holds  what  remains,  after 
sales  of  large  portions  by  predecessors  to  pay  debts.  In  1884 
the  present  baronet's  rental  from  the  remnant  was  £6,690  17s., 
and  this  annual  income  has  not  been  much  reduced  by  the 
agricultural  depression  of  these  ten  subsequent  years.  It  is 
believed  that  he  has  no  male  heir  of  his  own  kin,  and  in  that 
case  the  destination  of  the  entail,  in  express  clause,  gives  the 
lands  next  to  Earl  Alexander's  "  own  nearest  heirs."  It  was  a 
main  purpose  of  the  earl's  entail  to  keep  up  the  Sinclair 
surname,  and  therefore  no  woman  could  or  can  succeed  to  his 
real  estate.  His  nearest  of  male  kin  is  Earl  James  of  that 
family   from  whom  the  properties   ought  never  to  have  been 


EVENTS.  113 

diverted ;  yet  a  sjoecial  clause  having  been  inserted  in  the 
document,  that  no  earl  should  possess  the  lands,  would  transfer 
them  to  his  immediate  younger  brother  David,  Master  of  Caith- 
ness, if  a  successor  were  now  wanted.  Time  and  the  run  of 
events  may,  however,  vary  persons  ;  but  the  baronet's  rightful 
and  inevitable  follower  will  be  some  Broynach,  Earl  Alexander's 
lawful  male  kin  by  no  means  exhausted.  Though  late,  the 
justices,  real  and  poetic,  would  thus  have  their  satisfaction.  To 
let  the  crown,  which  already  has  too  much  of  the  earldom 
family's  lands,  seize  the  estate,  on  the  plea  of  the  exhaustion  of 
male  heirs  to  the  Stevenstons,  would  be  a  calamity.  The 
statute  of  limitations  does  not  affect  the  condition  of  thing's,  if 
there  is  no  male  claimant  of  the  Haddingtonshire  family  ;  the 
estates  naturally  reverting  to  the  heirs  of  entail  next  mentioned 
as  in  succession  by  the  1761  arrangement.  The  last  word  on 
the  question  must  be  left  to  members  of  the  legal  profession  ; 
though  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  room  or  reason  for  their 
interference,  except  formally  without  antagonism  at  the  proper 
moment. 


I 

■ 


APPENDIX, 

I.—LETTERS  BY  GEORGE,  THE  FIFTH  EARL. 

The  sad  story  of  the  state  executions  of  Patrick  Stuart,  Earl  of  Orkney, 
and  of  his  young  and  handsome  natural  son  Robert,  for  oppressions  and 
rebellions,  does  not,  except  indirectly,  belong  to. Caithness  annals.  Pitcairn 
in  his  "  Criminal  Trials,"  now  a  rare  book,  has  a  world  of  details,  and 
there  are  national  and  other  sources  from  which  a  complete  account  of  an 
extraordinary  condition  of  things  could  be  obtained,  if  the  Orcadian  subject 
had  to  be  elaborated.  It  is,  however,  of  proper  interest  to  have  here 
despatches  connected  with  it  written  by  a  Caithnessman,  trained  as  a 
soldier  in  Sweden,  tradition  says,  George  Sinclair,  the  fifth  earl  of  his 
surname,  at  a  period  barren  of  survivals  of  the  pen  as  respects  the  north. 
They  were  copied  from  the  originals  in  the  Denmylne  collection  of  MSS.  in 
the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh. 


"August  25th,  1614.  To  Lord  Binning.  Right  honourable,  my  very  good 
lord, — Please  your  lordship  we  arrived  at  Castle  Sinclair  on  the  22nd  instant, 
where  I  stayed  that  night  and  advertised  the  Caithnessmen  to  be  ready  to 
follow  me  to  Orkney  when  I  should  command  them.  I  embarked  with  me 
about  30  of  them,  and  came  to  Selwik  within  two  miles  of  Kirkwall  upon  the 
23rd  about  six  afternoon.  On  the  24th  I  sent  the  herald,  with  notaries, 
messengers,  and  witnesses,  to  make  proclamation  at  Kirkwall,  who  was  presently 
taken  as  he  entered  the  town,  most  injuriously  and  despitefully  abused  both  in 
word  and  deed,  the  letters  taken  from  him  by  Robert,  and  himself  with  a 
minister  and  all  others  that  accompanied  him,  kept  in  different  houses  all  that 
day  till  the  evening;  to  which  they  the  same  day  added  this  also,  that  to  the, 
number  of  300  men,  with  displayed  ensign,  they  sortied  out  of  the  town  and 
made  provocation  to  me  where  I  lay  upon  shipboard.  Because  the  proclamation 
was  thus  impeded,  I  was  forced  upon  the  25th  to  write  divers  letters,  and  send 
through  the  country  to  advertise  and  command  the  gentlemen  and  others  to. 


116  CAITHNESS 

resort  to  me  j  in  whom,  for  the  most  part,  1  did  not  find  that  ready  willingness 
which  I  expected.  I  had  to  send  to  Caithness  for  supply  of  my  own  men,  who 
coming  to  me  on  the  26th,  and  having  then  assembled  about  200  of  the  country 
men,  we  took  land.  At  the  same  time,  about  ten  o'clock,  we  landed  the 
battering-piece  with  its  carriage,  which  by  great  force  of  men,  and  despite  some 
difficulties  through  the  deepness  of  the  soil,  was  presently  and  with  all  possible 
diligence  drawn  nearly  2  miles  towards  the  town,  and  the  same  day  about  3 
afternoon  planted  at  Weyland,  within  a  quarter  of  mile  of  the  castle.  We 
marched  in  good  order,  with  colours  displayed,  and  as  we  approached,  the  rebels 
sortied,  boasting  that  they  would  fight  us  though  we  had  been  twenty  to  one, 
and  having  their  ordnance  in  readiness  to  have  played  upon  us  from  the  castle, 
steeple,  and  tower  of  the  yards,  and  discharging  one  or  two  of  the  same  against 
us  as  soon  as  we  came  under  their  sight.  I  commanded  the  cannoneers  to  shoot 
at  the  castle,  who  did  their  part  so  well  that  by  the  second  shot  one  of  the 
turrets  upon  the  head  of  the  house  was  pierced  and  almost  beaten  down,  to  the 
great  terror  of  the  traitors.  Other  three  balls  being  shot  one  after  another,  all 
hit,  but  did  not  hurt  much.  In  the  meantime,  the  rebels  provoking  and  bragging 
us  upon  the  Ball  Ley  to  the  number  of  120  men,  our  captains  and  soldiers  went 
directly  and  with  good  courage  towards  them,  and  without  any  resistance  or 
hurt  compelled  them  to  retreat  shamefully.  In  this  flight  about  5  of  pressed 
poor  men  of  the  country  abandoned  them.  The  captains,  soldiers,  and  gentle- 
men of  the  country  with  their  men  presently  followed  the  rebels  at  their  heels, 
entered  the  town  the  same  night  about  six  o'clock,  inclosed  them  in  their  holds, 
and  now  possess  the  town.  That  night  I  lodged  about  the  ordnance,  and 
guarded  it  and  ourselves  with  the  rest  of  our  men. 

"  This  day  we  are  busy  about  the  landing  of  the  great  piece  of  ordnance, 
that  we  may  batter  both  the  castle  and  the  other  houses  which  annoy  us  and 
our  men  in  the  town,  and  thus  make  our  service  the  shorter.  The  rebels  are 
most  obstinate,  and  maliciously  resolved  to  hold  out  to  the  death,  though  I  have 
sent  ministers  and  their  own  friends  to  instruct,  admonish,  and  threaten  them. 
There  is  here  neither  bread,  nor  drink,  nor  other  victuals  to  be  had  for  price, 
prayer,  or  command  ;  so  that  I  must  either  seek  present  relief  of  some  victual 
from  Caithness,  or  suffer  the  soldiers  to  starve  from  want.  If  the  rebels  endure 
and  continue  in  their  obstinacy,  as  they  have  vowed  to  do,  there  will  not  be 
powder,  lead,  bullets,  nor  match  to  serve  for  this  service ;  in  which  case  I  see 
great  dangers,  and  many  more  difficulties  than  could  be  foreseen.  I  entreat 
your  good  lordship  to  acquaint  my  lord  treasurer  and  remaining  councillors,  and 
with  all  care  and  diligence  to  provide  betimes  that  money,  powder,  bullets,  and 
chiefly  some  reasonable  quantity  of  victuals,  which  cannot  be  had  here,  may  be 
sent  to  be  dispensed  and  sold  to  the  soldiers  and  others  who  have  need,  at  a 
reasonable  price,  whereby  our  great  necessities  may  be  supplied  with  little  or  no 
hurt  to  his  majesty's  money.  As  things  fall  out,  so  shall  your  lordship  be 
advertised   from   time   to   time.     And   now,  after   the   true   narration  of   our 


EVENTS.  117 

proceedings  and  present  state,  I  refer  the  consideration  and  care  of  all  to  your 
lordship's  wisdom,  and  shall  ever  rest,  your  lordship's,  ever  to  be  commanded, 
Caithness.  To  the  right  honourable,  my  very  good  lord,  my  Lord  of  Binning, 
his  majesty's  secretary  of  Scotland." 

"  To  my  lord  treasurer-depute.  My  very  good  lord  and  cousin, — I  have 
received  several  of  your  lordship's  most  kind  letters,  and  [recognised]  your  lord- 
ship's great  care  in  sending  all  things  necessary  for  ending  this  service.  I  cannot 
give  your  lordship  due  thanks,  but  I  will  account  your  actions  ever  to  proceed 
from  the  love  that  you  bear  to  his  majesty,  and  the  love  you  carry  to  me  as 
your  kinsman,  whom  your  lordship  shall  ever  have  power  to  command  so  long  as 
I  breathe.  The  form  and  manner  of  all  that  has  happened,  1  have  written  at 
great  length  to  my  good  lord  secretary.  I  have  directed  the  pinnace  home,  and 
also  the  barque  that  came  last ;  and  I  have  discharged  the  captain,  officers,  and 
soldiers  the  last  of  this  instant  month.  I  grant  that  this  service  has  been 
expensive  to  his  majesty  ;  but  as  to  what  has  been  expended,  I  hope  at  my 
coming  to  make  it  all  up  again  by  munition  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  I 
expect  to  bring  with  me  more  than  20,000  merks'  worth  of  brass  ordnance.  As 
for  my  pains,  hazard,  and  travail,  I  will  remit  them  to  his  most  sacred  majesty. 

"  Thus,  not  troubling  your  lordship  with  many  words,  I  end,  wishing  your 
lordship  ever  to  esteem  me  a  kinsman,  whom  your  lordship  shall  have  always 
power  to  command  according  to  my  pith.  Taking  my  leave,  I  commit  your 
lordship  to  God,  and  I  shall  ever  remain,  your  lordship's  cousin,  ever  ready  to 
be  commanded,  Caithness.     At  Kirkwall  Castle,  the  last  of  September,  1614." 

"  To  my  lord  secretary.  My  very  special  good  lord, — In  respect  of  your 
letter  dated  from  Edinburgh  the  5th  September,  and  come  into  my  hands  the 
14th  instant,  declaring  your  lordship's  diligence  in  expeding  all  necessaries  for 
this  service,  there  is  more  than  need  ;  for  daily  I  and  all  who  are  here  with  me 
have  hot  service  with  these  most  bloody  and  barbarous  rebels  and  traitors. 
They  have  killed  4,  and  the  last  is  William  Irvine,  an  Orkney  gentleman,  one 
who  I  have  heard  since  his  death  was  a  rebel  and  a  great  friend  to  the  traitor. 
God  is  just  in  his  judgments  ;  for  from  among  us  all,  standing  beside  him,  he 
was  shot  dead,  upon  the  19th  of  this  month,  at  2  o'clock  afternoon.  A  country- 
man of  mine  is  shot  through  the  arm  ;  a  soldier  is  shot  behind,  beneath  the 
back ;  and  one  was  slain  in  the  castle.  All  this  was  done  on  the  last  day's 
skirmish.  There  is  not  a  day  that  I  am  idle  except  the  Sabbath.  My  lord,  I 
will  assure  your  lordship  that  they  are  most  desperate  and  cruel  traitors,  and 
this  is  a  very  strong  hold,  and  nothing  can  do  damage  to  them  except  cannon. 

"  Where  your  lordship  has  set  down  in  your  letter,  of  his  majesty's  advice, 
that  I  should  be  sparing  to  grant  pardon  to  notorious  rebels  and  malefactors, 
God  forgive  that  I  should  take  upon  me  to  grant  pardon  to  any  who  have  so 
highly  offended  his  sacred  majesty.     Than  that  his  majesty  were  not  repaired  to 


118  CAITHNESS 

his  honour,  by  all  the  lives  of  these  bloody  traitors  who  are  within  this  devilish 
castle,  I  would  rather  be  buried.  Therefore,  my  lord,  I  will  be  plain  with  your 
lordship  as  to  a  faithful  counsellor  to  his  majesty.  I  find  none  except  of  the 
name  of  Sinclair  in  all  this  land  but  have  been  in  counsel  of  the  rebellion,  or 
else  art  and  part ;  for  there  is  a  bond  subscribed  by  700  of  the  people  of  the 
country  to  Robert  Stuart  and  Patrick  Halcro,  to  die  and  live  with  them.  The 
rebellion  was  devised  in  Edinburgh  Castle  last  winter,  and  if  God  grant  the 
good  fortune  to  get  Kobert  Stuart  or  Patrick  Halcro  alive,  his  majesty  will  hear 
of  good  sport.  I  have  Andrew  Martin,  whom  I  intend,  when  I  find  opportunity 
by  sea,  to  send  to  be  examined  by  your  lordship  of  his  majesty's  most 
honourable  privy  council.  I  have  caused  him  to  subscribe  his  deposition,  upon 
which  your  lordship  will  get  matter  enough  to  make  him  speak  Scotch,  if  he 
like  to  blot  his  master  to  be  the  hounder  out  of  his  son  to  do  all  that  he  has 
done. 

"  I  cannot,  nor  may  not,  stop  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  from  speaking 
with  the  traitors,  giving  them  meat  and  drink,  putting  them  aware  of  what  I 
am  doing,  and  making  daily  and  nightly  advertisement  of  all  they  can  see  or 
hear.  I  entreat  your  lordship  to  acquaint  me  immediately  as  to  the  council's 
mind  as  to  what  I  shall  do  to  them,  men  and  women.  I  have  taken  9  or  10 
men  of  Birsay  who  were  with  Robert,  and  who  were  plotters  with  him  in  this 
rebellion,  and  special  keepers  of  the  house  of  Birsay,  whom  I  intend  to  put  to 
an  assize,  and,  if  they  shall  be  convicted,  to  hang  for  an  example  to  others. 
My  lord,  this  service  is  not  like  to  have  so  hasty  an  end  as  I  would.  Your 
lordship  knows  my  commission  granted  to  me  is  no  longer  than  two  months,  of 
which  there  are  five  weeks  and  more  outgone  ;  and  if  it  please  your  lordship  of 
his  majesty's  privy  council  to  hold  me  here  till  it  please  God  that  I  put  a  final 
end  to  this  wicked  rebellion,  I  would  have  a  new  commission,  with  all  the 
privilege  needful,  until  the  service  be  ended.  I  protest  to  God  I  never  came, 
and  never  shall  come,  to  a  country  whose  people  may  be  compared  in  falsity  to 
this.  I  use  them  both  with  lenity  and  fair  forms,  as  the  bishop  will  inform 
your  lordship  ;  but,  for  all  that  I  can  do,  they  have  their  secret  communion  and 
traffic  with  the  traitors.  As  for  Mr.  John  Finlayson  [the  sheriff-depute],  there 
is  no  remaining  here  for  him,  if  I  were  once  out  of  this  country  ;  for  man,  wife, 
and  child  hate  him  to  the  death.  They  have  intended  twice  to  kill  him  since 
his  coming  here  with  me,  had  I  not  prevented  ;  but  now,  seeing  me  take  plain 
part  with  him,  they  begin  to  endure  him. 

"  After  beginning  this  letter  I  stopped  writing  to  your  lordship,  hopirig 
always  for  better  news.  The  barque  and  post  came  here  on  the  22nd  or  23rd 
September,  with  all  permission  uecessary  for  the  service  ;  and  at  their  arrival  I 
sent  to  those  in  the  castle  that  if  they  would  come  out  and  put  themselves  in 
his  majesty's  will  simply,  I  would  let  them  come  out.  The  last  of  this  present 
month  it  has  pleased  God  of  his  mercy  to  end  this  service  in  my  hands.  The 
house  is  mine,  Kobert  is  in  my  hands,  and  all  are  come  to  me  except  Patrick 


EVENTS.  119 

Halcro,  whom  as  yet  I  have  not  seen.  All  has  gone  to  his  majesty's  honour, 
praised  .be  God.  I  have  6  slain  to  me,  and  many  hurt.  The  soldier  I  wrote  of 
as  hurt  is, dead.  I  assure  your  lordship  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  houses  in 
Britain,  for  I  will  bring  with  me  to  your  lordship  cannon  balls  both  broken  like 
golf  balls  upon  the  castle  and  cloven  in  two  halves.  I  could  not  enter  into 
extremities  with  the  followers  of  Robert  until  I  was  master  of  the  house,  for 
fear  of  making  more  ado,  seeing  the  house  was  so  strong  ;  but  now  I  shall  not 
be  slow  to  punish  severely,  to  make  example  to  others  who  may  play  the  like. 
Presently  I  am  going  to  drink  his  majesty's  good  health  upon  the  castle  head. 
Mr.  John  Finlayson  wishes  to  have  the  castle  in  keeping,  but  I  will  not  give  it 
till  I  hear  from  his  majesty  and  your  lordship,  seeing  it  has  cost  his  majesty  so 
dear,  and  I  and  mine  the  danger  of  our  lives.  I  will  not  give  it  to  him  who  so 
beastlily  cave  it  up  for  four  shots  of  musket.  Nevertheless,  what  your  lordship 
of  his  majesty's  privy  council  will  command  me,  upon  your  advertisement,  I 
will  follow,  and  give  the  house  to  whom  your  lordship  pleases.  I  am  to  hasten 
the  barque  and  pinnace  to  your  lordship  with  all  diligence ;  and  I  this  day,  the 
last  of  this  month,  discharge  the  captain,  officers,  and  soldiers. 

"  My  lord,  by  your  lordship's  good  care  of  me,  it  has  pleased  his  majesty 
to  grant  me  a  remission,  and  to  honour  me  with  that  of  which  I  am 
unworthy  in  preferring  me  to  be  one  of  his  majesty's  most  honourable  privy 
council.  I  cannot  say  but  this  much,  that  I  shall  try  to  my  death  to  strive 
with  eagerness  for  loyalty  and  obedience,  and  hope  in  my  Saviour  to  do  his 
majesty  better  service  than  this  or  else  to  die ;  for  I  protest  to  God  that  I  crave 
no  greater  honour  in  this  earth  than  that,  by  my  death  in  his  majesty's  service, 
my  truth  and  loyalty  may  be  known  at  my  end.  As  to  your  lordship's  mani- 
fold good  will,  and  the  proofs  I  have  ever  had  of  your  lordship's  favour, 
unmerited  by  me,  your  lordship  shall  have  this  assurance  of  me,  that  I  shall 
ever  be  your  lordship's,  if  you  shall  never  speak  or  do  anything  about  me  but  as 
a  true  and  faithful  servant  to  his  majesty,  and  one  that  shall  ever  please,  so  far 
as  lies  in  me,  to  be  answerable  to  his  majesty's  laws.  Craving  your  lordship's 
pardon  that  I  am  so  long,  I  most  humbly  take  my  leave,  committing  your 
lordship  to  the  care  of  the  Almighty,  and  I  shall  ever  rest  and  remain,  your 
lordship's,  ever  bound  to  serve  your  lordship,  Caithness.  At  Kirkwall  Castle, 
the  last  of  September,  1614. 

11  P. S. — What  care  and  what  pains  and  hazard  I  have  been  in  since  coming 
here,  I  will  remit  to  others  to  declare ;  but  if  the  matter  had  not  proceeded  as  it 
has  done,  I  should  have  rathered  I  had  been  buried  here.  I  assure  your  lordship 
that  the  cannoneer  has  done  his  duty  in  this  service." 

"To  the  king.  Please  your  most  sacred  majesty, — I  have  taken  the  bold- 
ness to  write  these  lines,  since  it  pleased  your  most  gracious  majesty  to  honour 
me  so  far  as  to  make  choice  of  me  before  many  thousands  of  your  subjects,  of 
greater  worth  and  of  more  valour  and  wisdom  than  I,  to  undergo  this  service  of 


120  CAITHNESS 

the  Orcades,  which,  praised  be  God,  is  ended  now.  The  last  day  of  September 
the  castle  was  in  my  hands,  the  rebels  for  the  most  part  taken,  to  be  disposed 
of  at  your  majesty's  pleasure ;  and  all  the  country  was  made  peaceable.  And 
now  I  have  no  more  to  do  here,  but  I  am  ready  to  do  other  directions,  if  there  be 
directions  and  command  by  your  majest}''s  most  honourable  council.  When  I 
have  made  an  account  to  them  conformable  to  my  employment,  I  intend,  if  it 
will  please  your  majesty,  to  come  to  yon,  to  have  such  honour  as  to  kiss  your 
majesty's  most  gracious  hand,  hoping  in  God  to  do  your  majesty  more  accept- 
able service  than  this,  whatever  your  majesty  has  to  do,  or  else  to  lose  my  life ; 
for  I  protest  to  God  I  crave  no  greater  honour  in  this  earth  than  to  die  in  your 
majesty's  service,  that  by  my  end  your  majesty  may  know  my  affection  and 
truth.  Most  humbly  taking  my  leave,  my  duty  always  remembered,  I  end, 
committing  your  majesty  to  the  care  of  the  Almighty.  I  shall  ever  remain  your 
majesty's  most  humble  and  obedient,  devoted  servant,  to  the  death,  Caithness. 
Kirkwall  Castle,  the  1st  October,  1614." 

11  To  Lord  Binning.  My  most  special  good  lord, — 1  received  your  letter 
dated  Edinburgh  the  2(Jth  ultimo,  and  which  came  into  my  hands  on  4th  Octo- 
ber. Before  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  I  wrote  at  great  length  of  the  whole 
proceedings  here,  and  of  the  ending  of  this  service,  which  God  of  His  mercy  has 
made  to  come  otherwise  than  any  man  expected.  My  lord,  were  it  not  that  I 
managed  the  matter  so  cannily,  and  made  Patrick  Halcro  to  fail  those  who  were 
in  the  castle,  it  would  have  been  a  long  siege  ;  for  I  protest  to  God  the  house 
has  never  been  built  but  by  the  consent  of  the  devil.  It  is  one  of  the  strongest 
holds  in  Britain,  almost  without  fellow.  I  see  by  his  majesty's  letter  directed 
to  your  lordship  of  his  intention  to  Robert  Stuart.  I  thank  God  I  have  never 
said  to  him  but  this,  and  upon  this  condition  he  came  out,  which  condition 
was  in  this  form,  if  he  would  come  forth  and  put  himself  simpliciter  in  his 
majesty's  will  to  dispose  of  him  at  his  majesty's  pleasure,  I  should  keep  and 
preserve  him  from  every  danger  of  my  folks  till  his  majesty's  pleasure  and  will 
were  known.  He  desired  that  I  would  promise  upon  my  honour  to  preserve 
him  till  I  brought  him  to  his  majesty.  That  I  plainly  refused,  for  I  said  I  could 
not  promise  that  myself  might  have  access  to  his  majesty  without  the  special 
license  of  the  lords  of  his  majesty's  most  honourable  council.  To  conclude,  he 
plainly  submitted  himself  to  his  majesty's  will.  But  before  he  did  this,  Patrick 
Halcro  had  left  him,  and  had  said  flatly  to  him  in  the  castle  that  he  would  give 
the  castle  over.  This  made  him  come  out  upon  the  aforesaid  conditions,  and  not 
otherwise.  As  I  shall  answer  to  God,  Robert  Stuart  has  nothing  farther  of  me, 
for  I  spoke  with  him,  and  smelt  that  he  would  never  give  over  that  house,  to  be 
tortured  and  to  be  compelled  to  reveal  upon  his  father,  to  be  his  ruin.  I  finding 
this,  desired  if  he  would  let  Patrick  Halcro  come  out  and  speak  with  me,  upon 
that  same  pledge  that  was  in  for  him.  He  flatly  refused.  I  seeing  it  so,  made 
myself  to  be  well  contented  with  his  answer,  and  said  I  would  go  forward  with 


EVENTS.  121 

the  siege.'  He  passed  to  the  castle,  and  in  his  company  I  put  in  secret  word  to 
Patrick  Halcro,  to  see  if  in  the  morning  he  woald  come  out  and  speak  with  me 
in  the  kirk,  upon  pledges,  who  agreed  and  came  forth  to  me.  After  four  hours' 
conference,  he  and  I,  hand  to  hand,  I  made  him  yield  that  he  would  give  the 
house  over  and  put  it  into  my  hands,  upon  condition  I  should  promise  him  his 
life,  which  I  did.  Then  he  wished  me  to  cause  a  minister  to  come  in  and  preach 
to  them,  while  he  should  use  means  that  the  rest  should  be  contented  to  hear, 
and  so  he  should  make  the  matter  that  he  should  be  out  of  suspicion  until  the 
greatest  part  of  them  were  out  of  the  castle,  and  as  they  came  out  to  give  them 
fair  countenance.  By  these  means,  Patrick  Halcro  made  the  house  and  all  those 
who  were  there  to  be  in  my  hands.  The  proceedings  and  ceremonies  took  the 
most  of  eight  days,  which  was  the  occasion  that  your  lordship  was  so  long  of 
getting  word,  for  which  I  crave  your  good  lordship  to  have  me  pardoned  ;  for, 
praised  be  God,  although  the  word  has  been  long  of  coming,  it  is  good  when 
it  has  come. 

"  I  look  that  my  word  and  promise  given  to  Patrick  Halcro  shall  not  be 
fulfilled.  Before  it  were,  I  should  rather  be  in  my  grave.  As  to  the  rest  whom 
I  have  in  my  hands,  except  Robert  Stuart,  they  shall  be  hanged  within  two 
days  at  the  castle  gate,  with  several  others  of  the  country  men  who  were  ring- 
leaders to  Robert,  to  the  example  of  others.  The  number  that  shall  hang  who 
were  in  the  castle  is  twelve.  1  have  sent  Robert  Stuart  and  Patrick  Halcro  to 
Castle  Sinclair,  to  be  safely  kept  there  till  I  have  done  all  that  your  lordship 
has  given  me  commission  for.  Since  the  service  is  done,  I  have  no  pleasure  in 
staying  here,  for  the  weather  is  both  bad  and  variable,  and  so  are  the  people, 
for  he  that  would  rule  here  requires  both  wit  and  manhood,  and  needs  many 
ears  and  eyes. 

"  Whereas  your  lordship  Mashes  me  to  conform  all  my  actions  to  his 
majesty's  mind,  1  hope  in  my  Saviour  never  to  do,  say,  or  think  aught  that  shall 
be  offensive  to  his  majesty.  Before  I  did  willingly  anything  that  were  offensive 
to  his  majesty,  I  would  rather  be  buried  alive.  As  to  this  piece  of  small  service, 
I  think  it  but  a  beginning,  and  if  his  majesty  have  any  other  service  of  greater 
importance,  I  hope  either  to  die  or  give  his  majesty  a  greater  proof  of  my  affec- 
tion and  love.  Thanking  your  good  lordship  for  the  great  care  your  lordship 
has  had  that  I  should  want  nothing  which  should  further  this  service,  in  my 
pains  I  can  render  your  lordship  no  further  than  the  assurance  of  continuance 
of  my  service,  as  I  shall  ever  remain  your  own,  Caithness.  Kirkwall,  7th 
October,  1614." 

"  The  articles  sent  by  the  Earl  of  Caithness  to  the  secretary  to  be  resolved 
by  the  council.     (Received  10th  October,  1614,)  .• — 

I.  "  Please  your  honourable  lordship  to  resolve  and  direct  what  shall  be 
done  with  the  castle,  which  is  now  in  my  custody  ;  whether  it  shall  be  repaired 
or  demolished.     Though  it  may  be  an  ornament  for  the  town  of  Kirkwall,  and 

Q 


122  CAITHNESS 

may  be  esteemed  a  place  of  refuge  and  security  for  the  whole  country  in  time  of 
foreign  invasion,  if  any  should  happen  to  be  ;  yet  since  it  is  neither  necessary 
for  any  ordinary  service  of  his  majesty,  nor  a  house  fit  for  the  habitation  of  his 
majesty's  officers,  and  may  be  more  easily  taken  by  foreign  foes  in  case  they 
should  invade  than  recovered  again  from  them,  I  remit  it  to  your  lordship's 
wisdom  what  shall  be  done  with  it. 

II.  "  Please  your  lordship  to  give  some  direction  for  the  government  of 
these  people.  The  present  officer,  the  sheriff-depute,  is  hated  to  the  death  by 
all  sorts  of  men ;  he  is  of  no  sufficient  qualities  for  such  a  place  and  office  ;  and 
by  his  former  evil  demeanour  is  so  contemned  of  the  basest,  that  he  will  never 
by  all  appearance  recover  credit,  authority,  and  regard  here.  Besides,  if  he 
remain  here  after  me,  he  will  be  in  danger  of  his  life,  and  some  new  broil  may 
arise. 

III.  "Though  there  are  great  spoil  and  loss  of  horses,  cattle,  ships,  boats, 
and  now  of  armour  which  belonged  to  his  majesty,  your  lordship  will  be  pleased 
to  give  directions  what  shall  be  done  with  what  remains,  and  with  what  may  be 
recovered  from  unjust  retainers,  that  his  majesty  be  not  defrauded  and  hurt. 

IV.  "  As  for  Birsay,  which  was  the  place  whence  the  troubles  sprung,  your 
lordship  may  be  pleased  to  consider  whether  it  shall  be  demolished,  or  kept  with 
some  allowance,  and  by  whom. 

V.  "  The  ordnance  which  is  in  the  castle  and  yards,  in  number  8  of  brass 
and  6  of  iron,  shall  be,  God  willing,  transported  upon  the  ships,  with  all  the 
armour  which  can  be  had. 

VI.  "Robert  Stuart  and  Patrick  Halcro  shall  be  kept  and  brought  with 
myself.     Caithness." 


For  his  services  Lord  Caithness  had  a  yearly  pension  of  1000  crowns, 
besides  being  made  one  of  the  privy  council  of  Scotland.  He  has  been 
accused  of  heartless  deceit  with  respect  to  Patrick  Halcro,  as  exhibited  in 
one  of  the  despatches.  But  it  was  momentary  anger  with  the  man,  who 
plainly  had  been  acting  double ;  for  history  notes  that  Halcro  saved  his 
neck,  and  presumably  through  the  earl's  influence,  with  whom  later  he  was 
in  good  friendship.  It  was  James  Law,  Bishop  of  Orkney,  who  had  most 
to  do  with  these,  as  usual,  fated  royal  Stuarts,  Patrick,  Earl  of  Orkney,  and 
"  Robert."  In  a  letter  to  Lord  Binning,  afterwards  Thomas  Hamilton, 
Earl  of  Haddington,  which  he  received  on  15th  October,  1614,  the  bishop 
says,  "  Robert  Stuart  and  Patrick  Halcro  are  to  be  transported  this  day, 
6  th  October,  to  you  to  exhibit.  The  rest  are  prisoners  in  the  castle.  My 
Lord  Caithness  and  I,  after  Robert  and  Patrick  be  despatched  with  young 


EVENTS.  123 

Mey,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  able  men  to  guard  them,  are  presently 
going  to  examine  every  one,  and  the  next  day,  God  willing,  they  shall 
suffer  judgment  and  condign  punishment."  The  clergy  were  never  behind 
in  sparing  the  rod.  He  hopes  to  secure  the  bond  which  Robert  had  had 
signed  by  men  of  Orkney  to  forcibly  restore  his  father,  the  earl,  and  con- 
tinues characteristically,  "  Margaret  Buchanan,  wife  to  Simon  Stuart,  and 
now  adulteress  to  Patrick  Halcro,  has  revealed  most  to  me.  Shall  I  send 
her  ?  I  shall  put  her  out  of  this  country  for  adultery.  I  will  come  south 
with  Lord  Caithness,  unless  needed  in  Kirkwall."  Young  Mey  was  son  of 
the  clerical  chancellor  of  Caithness,  and  had  gained  notoriety,  before  he  was 
fourteen,  by  shooting  dead  Bailie  McMorran,  Edinburgh,  at  barring-out  the 
head-master  of  the  High  School  in  September,  1595,  the  second  of  the  line 
of  Mey  lairds  who  falsely  became  earls.  Lord  Binning,  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother  Patrick  Hamilton,  gives  his  impressions : — "  John  Stuart  brought 
from  the  Earl  of  Caithness  4  prisoners  this  morning.  They  are  in  the  iron- 
house  of  the  tolbooth,  the  '  cage.'  Lord  Caithness  with  great  dexterity  has 
made  himself  master  of  the  steeple  and  the  house  of  the  yards,  Kirkwall. 
He  has  no  loss,  praised  be  God,  but  two  of  his  men — one  slain  and  one 
hurt."  Binning's  information  was  then  deficient  as  to  the  losses,  though 
they  were  unusually  small  considering  that  Robert  had  500  men,  and  the 
king's  commissioner  and  lieutenant  180  soldiers,  with  a  larger  number  of 
Caithnessmen  in  support  from  his  own  county.  Sheriff-depute  Finlayson 
took  a  body  of  60  men  from  Mey  to  demand  Birsay  Palace  from  Robert, 
which  he  seized  at  the  beginning  of  the  rising,  but  he  shot  at  them,  and  the 
sheriff  returned  to  Kirkwall,  not  much  of  a  warrior,  as  Lord  Caithness 
protests  in  one  of  his  despatches. 

Calderwood's  MS.  church  history  in  the  Advocates'  Library  says, 
"  Robert  Stuart,  son  natural  to  the  Earl  of  Orkney,  with  five  of  his  accom- 
plices, convicted  of  treasonable  taking,  keeping,  and  defending  the  castle  of 
Kirkwall  and  the  strengths  in  Orkney,  were  hanged  at  the  market  cross  of 
Edinburgh,  and  died  penitent.  The  said  Robert  confessed  that  his  father 
the  earl,  who  was  then  warded  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  commanded  him 
to  do  that  which  he  did,  but  granted  he  gave  him  a  countermand  before  he 
entered  in  execution.     The  gentleman  not  exceeding  22  years  of  age,  was 


124  CAITHNESS 

pitied  of  the  people  for  his  tall  stature  and  comely  countenance."  The 
date  given  to  this  is  6th  January,  1615.  On  6th  February  Earl  Patrick 
Stuart  also  forfeited  his  life  upon  the  scaffold  there  for  high  treason,  that 
is,  attempting  to  recover  his  lands,  bought  cheap  and  annexed  by  the 
crown.  Though  first  cousin  of  James  I.,  king  of  Britain,  there  was  no 
mercy  for  him,  the  ferocity  of  royal  Stuarts  to  their  kin  chronic.  All  of 
them  undeniably  bastards  by  the  common  law,  and  their  lawful  descent 
by  canon  and  civil  law  also  the  subject  of  hot  debate,  even  with  Scotch 
historians  and  jurists,  their  uncompromising  violence  in  keeping  precarious 
footing  transmitted  from  age  to  age  in  them  carelessness  of  human  life  the 
nearest  and  dearest. 

Orkney  events,  which  at  this  point,  from  the  extant  records  of  those 
"  treason  "  trials,  are  extremely  rich,  must  be  avoided.  It  needs,  however, 
to  be  noticed  that  the  ruling  Stuarts  and  Sinclair®  on  both  sides  of  the 
Pentland  Firth  were  closely  interknit  in  relationship,  which  as  often  as  not 
caused  bitter  quarrelling.  In  1609,  for  example,  Henry  Black,  alias  Doug- 
las, Earl  Patrick's  chamberlain,  and  captain  of  Kirkwall  Castle,  one  of  the 
hanged  of  1614,  William  Davidson,  alias  Liericock,  Malcolm  and  James 
Mowat  in  Ethay,  and  ochers,  were  pursued  at  Edinburgh  for  the  slaughter 
of  Donald  Groat  of  Wares,  Walter  Groat,  and  James  Steven,  all  in  Dun- 
cansbay.  The  letters  of  pursuit  were  purchased  by  Margaret  the  widow  of 
Donald  Groat,  Malcolm  Groat  his  son,  John  brother  to  the  slain  Walter 
Groat,  and  Alexander  Steven  brother's  son  to  James  Steven.  Lord  Orkney 
and  Lord  Caithness  were  hostile  for  this  incident,  but  becoming  reconciled, 
the  diet  of  justice  was  deserted.  Nor  was  the  rivalry  confined  to  the 
result  of  such  occurrences,  but  it  is  untrue  that  the  Earl  of  Caithness  acted 
in  the  Kirkwall  affair  on  other  than  public  grounds. 

.  His  next  brother  Sir  James,  the  first  of  the  Murkle-Broynach  family, 
was  one  of  the  cautioners  to  the  state  for  the  expedition  ;  and  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Lady  Elizabeth  Stuart,  sister  of  Earl  Patrick,  first  cousins  to  the 
reigning  king,  James  VI.  of  Scotland  and  I.  of  England.  A  postboy  with 
letters,  mostly  to  Caithnessmen,  which  were  passing  between  Robert  and 
Earl  Patrick,  then  imprisoned  in  Dumbarton  Castle,  was  seized  on  5th 
July,  1614.     Lord  Orkney  directed  in  one  of  them  that  if  Robert  his  son 


EVENTS.  125 

and  Patrick  Halcro  could  not  take  some  of  the  castles  in  Orkney  they  were 
to  "  go  over  quietly  to  Murkle,  and  remain  there  for  opportunity,"  Murkle 
Castle  being  the  home  of  his  sister  and  brother-in-law ;  the  latter  for  a  time 
known  as  Master  of  Caithness  in  the  records,  the  above  Sir  James  Sinclair, 
whose  son  Sir  James  was  father  of  Broynach.  Robert's  speedy  decision  to 
attack  castles  must  have  prevented  the  visit  to  his  aunt. 

It  seems  his  father's  remark  on  hearing  that  he  had  secured  Kirkwall 
Castle  was,  "  He  might  have  taken  a  better  house,  devil  stick  him."  Did 
he  mean  Holyrood  House,  Stuart  ambition  always  of  the  towering  kind  ? 
He  had  again  and  again  been  suspected  of  intending  to  make  Orkney  and 
Shetland  his  absolute  kingdom ;  one  of  the  final  charges  against  him,  that 
he  had  ordered  ammunition  from  Norway  to  become  a  prince.  In  1607 
King  James  I.  freed  him  from  twelve  or  thirteen  heads  of  accusation  in  a 
Latin  summons  of  forfeiture,  asserting  that  he  was  assuming  the  royal 
prerogative  completely  through  the  islands.  But  enough  of  this  other  of 
the  unfortunate  Stuarts. 

Lord  Caithness  left  the  laird  of  Ratter,  his  youngest  brother,  as  depute 
for  him  in  the  offices  of  justiciary  and  sheriff  of  Orkney,  with  directions  to 
demolish  the  castle  of  Kirkwall,  according  to  the  warrant  of  the  privy 
council  sent  to  him.  There  is  a  scrap  of  Sir  John  Sinclair  of  Ratter's 
writing,  or  instruction,  in  a  petition  to  that  council,  of  date  17th  November, 
1614,  that  "  he  was  a  gentleman  of  small  means,  having  neither  lands  nor 
rents  in  Orkney,  and  his  remaining  there  under  the  burden  and  charge  of 
the  offices  of  justiciary  and  sheriff  would  draw  him  in  short  time  to  spend 
all  his  rents,  to  his  great  hurt  and  inconvenience,  besides  neglecting  his  own 
affairs  and  business  at  home.  His  desire  was,  therefore,  that  he  might 
understand  upon  what  conditions  he  should  remain  in  that  country,  and 
upon  whose  charges  and  expense  the  house  should  be  demolished."  He 
was  allowed  100  merks  monthly,  and  directed  to  put  in  the  expense  of 
razing  the  castle  to  the  treasury,  the  items  vouched  by  James  Law,  Bishop 
of  Orkney.  In  April,  1615,  a  Walter  Richie  had  a  commission  to  demolish 
the  castle,  who  became  bankrupt,  the  labour  of  destruction  was  so  difficult. 
Whether  Ratter  shunned  the  disagreeable  work  of  destroying  a  building 
erected  by  his  ancestor  Prince  Henry  Sinclair,  the  First,  of  the  Orkneys,  is  a 


126  CAITHNESS 

query  that  may  answer  for  Richie's  presence  at  Kirkwall,  though  he  might 
be  merely  the  subordinate  of  the  justiciary  acting  out  the  privy  council's 
will. 

Henry  Sinclair  of  Borrowston  and  100  Caithnessmen  armed  with 
swords  and  muskets,  formed  part  of  his  brother  the  earl's  army.  See  the 
printed  "  Register  of  the  Privy  Council "  for  the  historical  points,  and  also 
Sir  Robert  Gordon's  "  Genealogical  History,"  who,  though  maliciously 
spiteful  to  the  Earl  of  Caithness,  tells  the  facts  on  pp.  299,  300,  301,  adding 
that  Henry  of  Borrowston  and  Lybster,  Reay,  died  at  the  siege,  of  an 
apoplexy  in  the  night.  Henry  left  a  son  John,  who  went  to  America 
where  he  has  numerous  descendants,  among  whom  are  the  Hon.  C.  H.  St. 
Clair,  mayor  of  Morgan  City,  Louisiana,  formerly  an  officer  of  the  U.S. 
navy,  member  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the  state  of  Louisiana  ; 
his  brother,  Major  St.  Clair ;  another  brother,  Dr.  F.  O.  St.  Clair,  chief  of 
the  Consular  Bureau  of  the  United  States  twenty-nine  years ;  and  many 
others  holding  distinguished  public  and  private  position.  They  trace  near 
kin  to  the  famous  revolutionary  hero,  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  U.S.  army,  president  of  Congress  in  1787,  and  governor 
of  the  North-Western  Territory.  The  brothers'  cousin  May,  authoress, 
journalist,  and  artist,  well  known  to  Boston,  New  York,  and  Chicago,  is 
the  secretary  of  the  De  Sancto  Claro  Society,  the  president  of  which  is 
Colonel  H.  C.  St.  Clair,  and  the  vice-president,  General  John  W.  St.  Clair. 
Dr.  W.  H.  St.  Clair,  Effingham,  Illinois,  is  great-great-grandson  of  Wash- 
ington's comrade  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  who  was  born  at  Thurso  in 
1734  or  1736. 

There  is  no  more  commanding  position  with  regard  to  Sinclair  lineage 
than  the  time  of  this  siege  of  Kirkwall  Castle  in  1614,  all  the  persons 
connected  with  the  peerage  family  subsequently  branching  out  from  those 
engaged  about  the  affairs  of  Patrick  Stuart,  Earl  of  Orkney.  If  his 
brother-in  law  the  brave  Sir  James  Sinclair  of  Murkle  was  or  was  not 
there,  he  is  very  familiar  in  such  incidents  as  becoming  surety  that  the 
royal-blooded  spendthrift  would  pay  large  debts,  for  which  in  the  end  he 
had  to  mortgage  Orkney  and  Shetland.  His  father  was  Robert,  Earl  of 
Orkney   and  Strathearne,  the  half-brother  of  Mary,  Queen   of  Scots,   his 


EVENTS.  127 

erring  mother  Euphemia,  daughter  of  Lord  Elphinstone  ;  so  that  he  had 
good  reason  to  feel  sovereign.  The  three  brothers  Lord  Caithness,  Sir 
James  of  Murkle,  and  Sir  John  of  Ratter  were  ancestors  of  all  the  peers, 
true  and  false,  till  1789 ;  and  the  Broynach  descendants  of  the  second,  have 
vindicated  the  truth  that  since  1765  they  have  been  the  rightful  earls.  It 
is,  however,  literary  rather  than  historical  or  genealogical  purpose  that  is 
the  motive  to  making  these  military  despatches  generally  familiar,  from 
which  the  writing  faculty  is  everything  but  absent.  In  report  VI.  of  the 
historical  commission  MSS.,  it  is  said  that  there  exists  a  letter  written  by 
this  George,  Earl  of  Caithness,  which  Sir  William  Gordon  Cumming, 
baronet  of  Gordonstown,  had  ;  the  date  1619,  but  what  the  subject  is  not 
said.  Earl  George  died  February,  1643,  aged  78,  in  Caithness,  a  man  of 
many,  chiefly  undeserved,  misfortunes.  In  the  same  year  Sir  William 
Sinclair  of  Canisby,  the  "  young  Mey  "  of  the  siege,  the  earl's  first  cousin, 
died  also  in  Caithness,  aged  62. 

The  latest  tale  of  the  many  from  which  the  earl's  reputation  has 
unjustly  suffered,  is  as  gratuitous  and  unpardonable  as  the  "  Legend  of 
Girnigoe  "  in  the  Celtic  Magazine  of  1883,  vol.  ix.,  p.  13.  Under  the  title 
of  "  The  Cleft  Skull,"  what  is  surely  a  fiction  has  been  published  in  April, 
1894,  with  a  lugubrious  verisimilitude  to  truth  that  forms  the  least 
desirable  kind  of  literature.  John  Gordon,  a  farmer  near  Wick,  is 
supposed  to  have  lent  money  on  portions  of  land  to  the  earl,  who  asks 
him  to  Girnigoe  Castle,  that  he  may  wickedly  secure  the  bonds.  Gordon 
escapes,  and  is  pursued  on  horseback  by  the  earl  and  two  followers.  There 
is  a  game  of  hide  and  seek  ;  but  at  last,  on  Ackergill  sea-sands,  the  earl 
comes  up  to  the  fugitive  in  the  dusk,  and  cuts  the  top  of  his  head  quite 
away  with  a  stroke  of  his  sword.  The  attendants  try  to  bury,  but  in  the 
end  float,  the  corpse,  and  retire.  Next  day  the  tide  brings  back  the  body, 
and  the  earl's  decision  is  to  make  a  handsome  funeral  to  hide  the  event. 
Gordon's  two  brothers  are  invited,  and  told  of  the  sudden  death  of  John  on 
his  friendly  visit  to  the  castle.  They  are  grateful  at  the  wonderful  proposal 
that  the  Sinclair  Aisle,  Wick,  should  be  the  place  of  burial,  among  the  earl's 
own  kin.  Of  all  this,  the  sole  poor  evidence  seems  to  be  a  skull  now  undoubt- 
edly there,  the  top  of  which,  above  the  eyebrows,  has  gone,  the  cut  of  the  bone 


128  CAITHNESS 

as  neat  as  possible.  Having  personally  examined  it,  two  things  overturn  the 
tale  of  the  skull ;  first,  it  probably  would  have  been  in  ashes  there,  instead  of 
good  preservation,  if  that  of  a  Gordon  slain  nearly  three  centuries  ago  ;  and, 
second,  the  cut  is  not  of  a  sword  but  a  medical  or  other  saw,  which  in  one 
place  after  leaving  the  straight  goes  back  to  it,  with  the  consequence  of 
showing  a  jag  where  the  wrong  cutting  was.  No  swordsman  could  do  this 
with  a  living  or  dead  head.  If  there  be  a  tradition  or  record  about  a  John 
Gordon's  slaughter,  let  the  sources  be  mentioned ;  but  one  thing  is 
absolutely  certain,  namely,  that  the  skull  cannot  by  any  chance  fit  him. 
The  historian  of  the  house  of  Sutherland  has  prompted  with  his  false  tales 
yet  another  version  of  the  same  kind ;  but  to  traffic  with  a  distinguished 
man's  character,  whether  contemporary  or  ancient,  is  dangerous  and  wicked 
work.  To  murder,  without  form  of  law,  was  not  permissible  to  earl  or 
king  in  Scotland  then,  but  capitally  punishable,  as  students  of  history  are 
well  aware.  When  even  fatal  accidents  happened,  there  was  great  trouble 
to  get  remissions.  A  remission  meant  that  an  incident  of  killing  was  a 
fight,  not  murder ;  Ingram  Sinclair's  death  being  of  this  kind,  the  privy 
council  record  indicates.  No  farmer  was  hunted  to  his  death  by  the 
traduced  earl  in  the  melodramatic  circumstances  of  the  evil  tale  of  scandal. 

II.— TWICKENHAM  AND  REAY. 

The  surname  of  the  extinct  line  of  the  English  Earls  of  Downe  was  Pope  ; 
and  Alexander,  the  London  poet,  knew,  if  not  the  steps  of  relationship,  at 
all  events,  his  kinship  to  them.  The  Scotch  origin  of  the  Popes  is  a  newr 
possibility,  and  some  Caithness  discoveries  go  towards  its  proof,  while 
creating,  in  any  case,  interesting  passages  connected  with  one  of  the 
masters  in  literature.  Several  letters  appeared  in  the  Northern  Ensign  of 
1883  revealing  details  of  curious  biographic  point.  In  the  "  Life "  by 
Carruthers,  editor  of  Inverness  Courier,  references  are  made  to  the 
correspondence  between  Pope  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  minister  of 
Reay,  North  of  Scotland ;  a  complete  letter  written  from  Twickenham 
being  given  in  the  appendix.  There  is  also  a  letter,  in  the  same  work,  by 
James   Campbell,   Assistant-Commissary-General   at   Edinburgh,    of    date 


EVENTS.  129 

April,  1854,  describing  a  snuff-box  presented  to  the  Reay  clergyman  by  his 
namesake.  Campbell  states  that  the  two  Popes  claimed  kin  ;  and  as 
Campbell  was  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Alexander,  by  the  mother's  side,  his 
testimony  would  be  of  high  legal  value,  pedigree  evidence  of  this  family 
kind  being  always  specially  admitted.  An  elder  brother  of  the  commissary 
recounted  having  seen  Pope  his  grandfather  shewing  the  presents  and 
letters  of  the  poet. 

Confirmation  of  these  circumstances  is  given  by  the  following  extract 
from  a  communication  to  the  newspaper  already  mentioned  : — "  Nearly 
fifty  years  ago,  I  passed  some  days  with  an  acquaintance  in  Caithness,  who 
was  well  posted  up  in  the  traditions  of  the  county,  and  who,  speaking 
of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  said  he  was  a  distant  relative  of  the  poet. 
This  acquaintance  had  a  copy  of  Pope's  poetry,  which  he  was  told  was 
presented  to  the  minister  of  Reay  by  the  author,  on  occasion  of  a  visit 
which  the  former  made  to  his  relative  and  namesake  in  England,  and 
on  the  blank  leaf  of  which  was  written  in  the  poet's  hand  a  statement 
to  that  effect,  with  his  signature  adhibited  thereto.  The  acquaintance 
referred  to  went  abroad  many  years  ago,  and  no  doubt  carried  the  volume 
with  him." 

Another  letter  dated  Wick,  14th  April,  1883,  has  further  information 
by  James  Grant  Duncan,  "  The  Rev.  Alexander  Pope  of  Reay  was  a 
notable  man  in  his  day,  and  no  mean  antiquarian,  at  a  time  when  few 
ministers  or  men  took  much  interest  in  antiquarian  research.  We  are  told 
that  our  Caithness  parson  rode  all  the  way  from  Reay  to  Twickenham,  to 
visit  his  celebrated  namesake  Pope  the  poet.  The  latter  ought  to  have 
been  proud  of  such  a  visit,  and  doubtless  was,  for  we  learn  that  he  pre- 
sented the  parson  with  a  handsome  copy  of  his  works.  His  presentations, 
however,  seam  to  have  extended  to  other  works  as  well ;  for  I  have  before 
me  two  old  volumes  containing  the  following  inscription,  i  Ex  clono 
Alexandri  Pope,  armigeri,  Twickenham,  Jidii  Gto,  1732'  ('From  the  gift 
of  Alexander  Pope,  esquire  or  armsbearer,  Twickenham,  the  sixth  of  July, 
1732 '),  written  in  a  fine  clear  hand.  The  work  is  a  translation  of  the 
Abbot  de  Vertot's  'History  of  the  Roman  Republic,'  published  1723  ;  and 
coming  from  the  hands  of  Alexander  the  Great  to  those  of  Alexander  the 

R 


130  CAITHNESS 

Less,  was  doubtless  highly  prized,  as  well  on  that  account  as  for  its  intrinsic 
merits."  It  may  be  remarked  that  the  poet's  caligraphy,  judging  from  his 
MSS.,  could  not  be  called  a  fine  clear  hand,  but  he  may  have  done  his 
best  style  in  inscribing  Vertot's  popular  work.  If  it  is  the  holograph  of  the 
clergyman,  who  was  a  Latin  translator  of  note,  the  biographic  value  of  the 
two  volumes  is  not  lessened.  As  the  catalogue  of  the  library  of  the  British 
Museum  shows,  by  its  numerous  examples  of  the  Frenchman's  history,  no 
better  presentation  could  be  made  of  a  contemporary  book. 

But  this  does  not  exhaust  the  survivals  of  friendship  between  the  two 
Alexanders.  Of  date  10th  May,  1883,  Langley  Park,  Wick,  W.  Reid 
wrote,  "  I  happen  to  be  the  possessor  of  the  subscription  copy  of  the  five 
volume  quarto  translation  of  the  '  Odyssey,'  and  in  one  of  the  volumes  I 
read,  in  the  author's  own  holograph,  the  following  : — '  Twickenham,  July 
6th,  1/32.  Gift.  Alexander  Pope,  Esquire,  Poet-Laureate  of  England,  to 
Alexander  Pope,  Doctor  of  Humanity,  at  Dornoch.'  In  two  of  the  other 
volumes,  in  the  author's  handwriting  also,  is  this,  '  Ex  dono  Alexandri 
Pope,  armigeri,  Jul  11  6to,  1732,  Twickenham;7  ('From  the  gift  of 
Alexander  Pope,  armorials-bearer,  on  the  sixth  of  July,  1732.')  These 
volumes,  I  am  glad  to  say,  are  in  perfect  condition,  as  fresh-looking  as 
when  they  came  from  the  printer  158  years  ago.  They  are  printed  on  stout 
hand-made  cream-laid  paper,  with  large  margin,  for  Bernard  Lintot,  of  the 
city  of  London,  who  had  a  guarantee  from  George  Rex  (George  the  First) 
that  no  one  else  could  publish  the  work  in  any  shape  for  fourteen  years.  I 
had  the  curiosity  to  count  the  number  of  subscribers,  who  are  given,  with 
all  their  titles,  in  one  of  the  volumes,  beginning  with  the  king,  the  prince 
and  princess,  followed  by  a  host  of  dukes,  earls,  lords,  honourables,  and 
right  honourables,  sirs,  esquires,  counts,  countesses,  and  duchesses,  the  total 
number  of  copies  subscribed  for  being  836,  many  subscribers  taking  two, 
three,  and  up  to  ten  sets." 

The  work  was  published  in  1725,  so  that  it  was  seven  years  out  when 
received  at  Twickenham  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  the  antiquarian. 
In  Hew  Scott's  monumental  work  "Fasti  Ecc.  Scot.,"  it  is  said  that  he  was 
a  visitor  to  Twickenham,  London,  "from  Caithness,"  in  1732,  bringing  back 
a  subscription  copy  of  the  five  volume  quarto  translation  of  the  "  Odyssey." 


EVENTS.  131 

The  poet's  inscription  rather  shows  that  it  was  from  Dornoch,  the  county 
town  of  Suthcrlandshire,  that  he  set  out  on  his  pony  to  visit  his  famous 
relative,  and  not  from  the  more  remote  Reay.  It  is  true  that  Sutherland 
and  Caithness  were  one  diocese  in  former  times,  under  the  latter  denomina- 
tion, and  in  this  sense  Scott  may  be  right.  It  is  also  possible  that  Pope 
could  be  in  Caithness,  as  it  is  now  bounded,  as  a  teacher,  before  he  became 
minister  of  Reay,  though  there  is  no  evidence  to  this.  In  1720  a  money 
contribution  was  given  him  by  the  synod  as  "  intending  to  prosecute  the 
study  of  divinity,"  and  on  15th  April,  1725,  he  obtained  his  M.A.  from 
University  and  King's  College,  Aberdeen  ;  his  Doctorship  of  Humanity,  to 
which  the  poet  refers  in  1732,  coming  during  these  seven  years.  He  was 
appointed  session-clerk  and  precentor  of  Dornoch  27th  July,  1730;  and 
Avas  licensed  as  a  minister  by  Sntherlandshire  presbytery  19th  February, 
1734.  It  was  not  till  the  2nd  April  of  this  year  that  he  was  called  to 
Reay,  where  he  was  ordained  to  the  charge  on  5th  September,  the  natural 
inference  being  that  his  London  visit  was  from  Dornoch.  In  the  second 
edition  of  Calder's  "  History  of  Caithness,"  p.  228,  there  is  a  note  to  a 
quotation  from  Carruther's  memoir  which  comes  to  the  same  conclusion. 
The  extract  is — "  The  northern  Alexander  Pope  entertained  a  profound 
admiration  for  his  illustrious  namesake  of  England ;  and  it  is  a  curious 
and  well-ascertained  fact  that  the  simple  enthusiastic  clergyman,  in  the 
summer  of  1732,  rode  on  his  pony  all  the  way  from  Caithness  to  Twicken- 
ham, in  order  to  pay  the  poet  a  visit.  The  latter  felt  his  dignity  a  little 
touched  by  the  want  of  the  necessary  pomp  and  circumstance  with  which 
the  minister  presumed  to  approach  his  domicile ;  but  after  the  ice  of 
ceremony  had  in  some  degree  been  broken,  and  their  intellects  had  come  in 
contact,  the  poet  became  interested,  and  a  friendly  feeling  was  established 
between  them.  Several  interviews  took  place,  and  the  poet  presented  his 
good  friend  and  namesake,  the  minister  of  Reay,  with  a  copy  of  the  sub- 
scription edition  of  the  i Odyssey'  in  five  volumes  quarto."  To  the  year 
mentioned  the  note  objects  thus — "  There  is  an  error  of  date  here.  Mr. 
Pope  was  not  minister  of  Reay  in  1732,  but  was  residing  at  Dornoch,  and 
it  must  have  been  from  the  latter  place  that  he  rode  to  Twickenham."  The 
annotator  is  himself  confused,  the  date  right  enough  on  his  own  theory  of 


132  CAITHNESS 

Dornoch  being  the  starting  point,  formerly  the  seat  of  the  bishop  and  chapter 
of  the  diocese  of  Caithness. 

It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  inscription  describing  him  as  poet- 
laureate  of  England  was  written  by  the  poet.  If  it  is  his  holograph,  it 
would  be  another  proof  of  his  skill  in  fiction,  not  to  call  it  a  worse  name. 
In  1732  Colley  Cibber  was  the  laureate,  and  Eunwins  and  Tate  were  his 
predecessors,  after  Dryden's  death  in  1700.  One  of  Pope's  friends  expressly 
says  that  he  had  no  office  or  emolument  whatsoever  during  his  life  from  the 
court ;  the  only  favours  he  received  being  £200  from  George  I.  of  subscrip- 
tion for  the  "  Odyssey  "  translation,  and  £100  from  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
He  may  have  been  offered  the  laureateship,  no  contemporary  having  the 
tenth  part  of  his  claim  to  it,  and  he  may  have  accepted  the  honour  and  its 
income.  If  he  did,  of  which  proof  lacks,  it  was  for  the  shortest  time, 
biographers  knowing  nothing  of  it  hitherto.  It  rather  seems  that  this  third 
inscription  in  the  "  Odyssey  "  must  have  been  inserted  after  the  death  of 
Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  Reay  ;  for  he  could  not  be  mistaken  about  whether 
his  relative  was  poet-laureate.  Other  facts  and  dates  of  this  particular 
inscription  may  none  the  less  be  true,  though  written  by  a  third  hand ; 
the  laureateship  an  error,  so  far  as  yet  appears. 

In  a  prefatory  memoir  to  Pope's  poetry  in  Niehol's  "  British  Poets,"  pub- 
lished in  1856,  Gilfillan  tells  the  visit  story  from  Carruthers.  He  also  gives 
the  information  that  the  poet's  height  was  four  feet,  every  one  aware  of  the 
weakness  of  his  body,  which  needed  the  support  of  stays  before  he  could 
leave  his  bed.  Though  intellectually  his  Reay  kinsman  was  his  inferior,  as 
indeed  were  all  the  men  of  his  time,  physically  he  had  the  most  extraordi- 
nary contrast  of  superiority.  His  bodily  strength  is  a  tradition  in  his  parish 
to  this  day.  "  He  used,"  says  Carruthers,  "  to  drive  his  graceless  parishion- 
ers to  church  with  a  stick,  when  he  found  them  engaged  on  Sundays  at 
games  out  of  doors."  Personal  struggles  with  some  of  the  strongest  and 
fiercest  of  his  flock,  invariably  ended  in  conquest  by  the  muscular  parson. 

But  he  was  everything  rather  than  a  mere  athlete.  His  pen  in  that 
remote  sphere  was  always  at  work,  shewing  his  kinship  in  writing  faculty, 
as  well  as  otherwise,  to  the  little  hunchback  who  ruled  the  literary  kingdom 
of  English  in  that  day.     He  translated  what  referred  to  Caithness  from  the 


EVENTS.  133 

history  in  Latin  of  old  Orkney,  written  by  the  Norse  historiographer 
Torfaeus.  In  Pennant's  "  Tour,"  the  Appendix  No.  V.,  which  gives  the 
statistics  and  antiquities  of  Caithness  and  Sutherland,  was  written  by  him  ; 
and  much  of  the  information  about  the  same  localities  in  the  great  traveller 
Bishop  Pocockc's  "  Tours  in  Scotland,  1747,  1750,  1760,"  was  clearly 
from  his  stores,  though  not  acknowledged  by  the  prelate.  "  The  Rev. 
Murdo  Macdonald,  Durness,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  Reay,  and  the  Rev. 
Martin  Macpherson,  Golspie,"  says  the  bishop's  editor,  D.  W.  Kemp,  Edin- 
burgh, "  all  gave  him  information,  and  are  never  so  much  as  mentioned." 
Pope  tells  Pennant  that,  at  the  desire  of  this  Bishop  of  Ossory,  Ireland,  he 
measured  several  brochs,  one  in  the  parish  of  Loth,  which  the  bishop  had 
examined.  He  also  says  that  men  were  employed  to  hew  out  rocks  at 
Brora  for  fossils,  and  that  the  traveller  took  a  quantity  of  shells  with  him 
from  that  district,  where  he  also  visited  a  cave  which  he  said  was  like  the 
caves  near  Bethlehem.  In  a  book  published  at  London,  1780,  "Antiquities 
and  Scenery  of  the  North  of  Scotland,  In  a  Series  of  Letters  to  Thomas 
Pennant,  Esquire,  By  the  Rev.  Charles  Cordiner,  Minister  of  St.  Andrew's 
Chapel,  Banff,"  there  are  extracts  from  Pope  of  Reay's  extracted  translations 
of  the  "  Orcades  "  of  Torfaeus,  the  learned  Icelander,  which,  with  Cordiner's 
introduction  and  conclusion,  make  50  pages.  In  the  letter  of  25th  June, 
1776,  to  Pennant,  he  writes,  "I  rode  down  to  the  coast  at  the  church  of 
Reay,  and  had  for  several  hours  the  pleasure  of  Mr  Pope's  conversation, 
who  has  already  made  himself  known  to  you  by  his  account  of  the  antiqui- 
ties and  other  things  remarkable  in  these  countries.  I  received  much 
entertainment  from  his  free  communication  of  whatever  further  occurred  on 
these  subjects,  or  had  reference  to  the  objects  of  my  journey,  and  I  shall, 
as  I  pass  along,  use  his  observations  to  correct  or  enlarge  my  own."  He 
did  utilise  fully  the  generosity  of  the  antiquary,  and  reveals  that  Pennant 
not  only  had  information  from  Pope  but  drawings  from  which  some  of  the 
engravings  in  his  well-known  books  were  taken.  The  best  literary  survival 
of  the  poet's  relative  is  to  be  found  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  "  Archaeologia," 
the  official  proceedings  and  papers  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London. 
Its  number  is  20,  beginning  on  page  216,  and  it  is  entitled,  "  A  Description 
of  the  Dun  of  Dornadilla,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Alexander  Pope,  minister  of 


134  CAITHNESS 

Reay,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  George  Paton  of  Edinburgh,  communicated  by  Mr. 
Gough,  and  read  March  14th,  1777."  In  it  he  recounts  his  aid  to  Mr. 
Pennant  and  Mr.  Cordincr,  and  also  his  giving  of  a  short  dissertation  on 
Pictish  buildings  to  Dr.  Pococke,  Bishop  of  Ossory,  in  1760-1,  "when  he 
travelled  through  this  country."  Bishop  Stillingfleet  of  Worcester  had 
described  the  Dun  of  Dornadilla  in  the  Reay  forest  70  or  80  years  before 
Pope's  paper. 

The  eighteenth  century  was  notable  for  its  love  of  quaint  antiquities 
and  monumental  history,  Sloane,  Pococke,  Stukeley,  Ducarel,  Da  Costa, 
Milles,  typical  names  of  the  time ;  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Pope  well 
deserves  place  among  them.  In  Nichol's  numerous  volumes  entitled 
"  Literary  Anecdotes  "  and  "  Literary  Illustrations,"  a  perfect  saturnalia  of 
the  subjects  peculiar  to  the  period  are  to  be  found.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  if  the  remote  minister  had  been  situated  in  or  near  London,  he 
might  have  been  the  greatest  among  those  magnates,  who  were  collectors 
rather  than  of  original  faculty. 

As  it  was,  he  had  the  fame  of  "  an  able  and  popular  preacher  "  in  his 
district,  and  proofs  of  his  energy  as  an  organising  ruling  pastor  are  still 
extant.  He  began  in  1745  the  first  register  of  births,  deaths,  and 
marriages  of  Reay  parish,  now  preserved  in  the  Register  House,  Edinburgh. 
This  was  the  year  of  Prince  Charles  Stuart's  attempt  to  secure  the  throne, 
and  it  is  possible  that  the  troubles  may  have  destroyed  volumes  previous  to 
that  date.  Of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  law  Pope  knew  much,  in  the  most 
practical  ways.  In  1736  he  began  a  process  before  the  court  of  session 
for  stipend,  and  carried  his  point ;  but  he  did  not  succeed  with  another 
as  to  a  glebe,  because  the  Bishop  of  Caithness  had  put  special  reserva- 
tions on  the  church  land  in  1622.  In  1774  he  had  a  decree  from  the 
lords  of  session  for  a  school,  and  a  sum  of  money  also  to  build  a 
schoolmaster's  house,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland 
having  had  to  pay  the  legal  expenses  of  the  process.  In  June,  1740, 
he  had  been  able  to  cause  the  heritors  to  begin  to  build  a  new  manse 
or  parsonage ;  and  in  1739  the  still  existing  parish  church  of  Reay 
was  founded,  the  old  St.  Column's  Church,  situated  in  the  churchyard, 
now    demolished   except   one    aisle    or    chapel,    the   burial    place   of    the 


EVENTS.  135 

Mackays  of  Bighousc,  a  branch  of  the  Lord  Reay  family.  The  school 
process  is  dated  by  Morrison  in  his  "  Decisions  of  the  Court  of  Session  "  as 
begun  July  31st,  1773.  The  moderator  of  the  presbytery  of  Caithness  and 
Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  Reay,  pursued  the  heritors  of  Reay,  on  the  ground 
that  there  was  no  parochial  school  as  the  statute  of  1696  ordained.  The 
heritors  contemned  the  presbytery's  summons,  and  the  commissioners  of 
supply  of  the  county  refused  to  convene.  The  lord  ordinary  of  the  court  of 
session  ordered  the  heritors  to  meet,  but  only  William  Innes  of  Sandside, 
one  of  the  principal  heritors  or  proprietors,  appeared,  and  he  and  Pope 
transmitted  a  report  to  the  clerk  of  the  process  at  Edinburgh,  with  a 
memorial.  The  court  of  session  found  that  200  merks  were  a  proper 
salary,  and  that  £20  sterling  were  necessary  to  build  a  schoolhouse  on  the 
acre  of  land  given  in  donation  by  Mr.  Innes  of  Sandside,  the  heritors  to 
pay  accordingly.  This  may  be  enough  to  show  that  the  clergyman's 
historical  studies  by  no  means  encroached  on  his  pastoral  duties.  He  was 
twice  married,  and  had  sons  and  daughters  of  distinction,  one  of  the  sons 
being  his  assistant,  but  pre-deceasing  him,  Rev.  James  Pope,  A.M.,  Aber- 
deen University.  Of  the  family,  Scott  in  "  Fasti  Ecc.  Scot."  gives 
numerous  details.  The  Rev.  Alexander  Pope  himself  died  2nd  March, 
1782,  surviving  his  relative  and  namesake  the  poet  38  years. 

The  question  of  their  lineage  has  some  further  illustration,  though  not 
what  can  be  called  absolute  proof.  It  will  be  found  suggestive  that  the 
Reay  antiquary  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Hector  Pope,  episcopal  clergyman  of 
Loth,  Sutherlandshirc,  in  connection  with  the  following  passage  from  Sir 
Robert  Gordon's  "  History  of  the  Earldom  of  Sutherland  to  1630,"  pp. 
256-7-8  :— 

"  In  the  days  of  Earl  Alexander  "  [the  historian's  father],  "  about  the  year 
1585,  there  came  into  Sutherland  one  called  'Mr.'  William  Pope,  a  reasonably 
good  scholar  and  of  quick  and  ready  wit.  This  man  was  first  admitted  to  be 
schoolmaster  in  the  town  of  Dornoch  ;  then  he  was  appointed  resident  minister 
in  the  same  place  ;  and  withal  came  to  be  chantor  of  the  diocese  of  Caithness. 
In  process  of  time,  by  his  virtue  and  intelligence,  he  became  wealthy  and  of 
good  account  in  the  Sutherland  country.  His  brothers  Charles  and  Thomas 
perceiving  his  good  success,  came  also  thither,  out  of  Eoss,  where  they  were 
born,  thinking  to  settle  their  fortunes  with  their  elder  brother.     Thomas  Pope 


136  CAITHNESS 

was  made  chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  Caithness  and  minister  at  Rogart. 
Charles  Pope  was  a  public-notary  and  a  messenger-at-arms,  who,  being  of  an 
affable  and  merry  conversation,  so  behaved  himself  that  he  procured  the  love  of 
his  master  the  Earl  of  Sutherland,  and  the  good  liking  of  all  the  countrymen, 
so  that  in  the  end  he  was  made  sheriff-clerk  of  Sutherland.  These  three 
brothers  married  in  Sutherland,  anchoring  their  fortunes  in  that  country,  but 
as  wealth  and  prosperity  beget  pride,  so  pride  brings  with  it  a  certain  contempt 
of  others.  These  brothers,  dwelling  for  the  most  part  in  Dornoch,  being 
provident  and  wealthy,  thought  by  progress  of  time  to  purchase  and  buy  the 
most  part  of  the  tenements  of  that  town,  and  drive  the  ancient  and  natural 
inhabitants  from  their  possessions.  This  the  townsmen  in  the  end  perceiving, 
the}'  grumbled  at  heart,  though  they  could  take  no  just  exception,  seeing 
that  the  brothers  purchased  the  same  with  their  money  ;  but  they  determined 
within  themselves  to  show  their  hatred  and  revenge  when  occasion  should 
serve.  At  last,  upon  a  particular  quarrel  between  one  of  these  brothers  and 
one  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  their  ruin  thus  followed.  Every  man  being 
departed  from  the  town  of  Dornoch  to  a  convention  at  Strathully  "  [where 
Helmsdale  is  now  situated,  the  troops  also  of  the  Earl  of  Caithness  and  of 
Mackay  of  Strathnaver  there,  all  treating  about  peace],  "in  1607,  except  William 
Murray,  a  boyer,  and  some  few  others,  who  were  also  read}x  to  go  awray  next 
morning,  the  Rev.  William  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Pope,  Avuth  a  few  of  the 
ministry,  had  a  meeting  at  Dornoch  about  some  church  affairs.  After  they  had 
dissolved  the  meeting,  they  went  to  breakfast  at  an  inn  or  victualling-house  of 
the  town.  As  they  were  at  breakfast,  John  Macphaill "  [that  is,  Mackay] 
"  entered  the  house,  and  asked  some  drink  for  his  money,  which  the  mistress  of 
the  house  refused  to  give  him,  thereby  to  be  rid  of  his  company,  because  she 
knew  him  to  be  a  brawling  fellow.  John  Macphaill  taking  this  refusal  in  evil 
part  reproved  the  woman,  and  spoke  somewhat  stubbornly  to  the  ministers, 
who  began  to  excuse  her.  On  this  the  Rev.  Thomas  Pope  threatened  him,  and 
he  thrust  into  Thomas's  arm  an  arrow,  with  a  broad  forked  head,  which  he  then 
held  in  his  hand.  Being  parted  at  that  time,  the  Rev.  William  and  his 
brother  the  Rev.  Thomas  came  the  same  evening  into  the  churchyard 
with  their  swords  upon  them.  John  Macphaill  perceiving  this,  and 
taking  it  as  a  provocation,  he  went  with  all  diligence  and  acquainted  his 
nephew  Hugh  Macphaill,  and  his  brother-in-law  William  Murray  the 
boyer.  They  being  glad  to  find  this  occasion  to  revenge  their  old  grudge 
against  the  brothers,  hastened  forth,  and  meeting  with  them  in  the  churchyard  fell 
a  quarrelling,  and  from  quarrelling  to  fighting.  Charles  Pope  had  been  all  that 
day  from  home,  and  on  his  return,  understanding  what  case  his  brothers  were 
in,  he  came  wTith  sudden  haste  to  the  fatal  place  of  his  ruin  and  end.  They 
fought  a  little  while.  In  the  end  Charles  hurt  William  Murray  in  the  face,  and 
thereupon  William  Murray  killed  him.  The  Rev.  William  and  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Pope  were  both  severely  wounded  by  John  Macphaill  and  his  nephew 
Hugh  Macphaill,  and  were  lying  in  that  place  for  dead  persons  without  hope  of 


EVENTS.  137 

recovery.  They  recovered  afterwards,  however,  beyond  expectation.  The 
offenders  escaped  because  there  were  none  in  the  town  to  apprehend  them,  only 
such  as  favoured,  the  inhabitants  being  all  gone  to  the  assembly  at  Strathully. 
John  Macphaill  and  his  nephew  Hugh  ended  their  days  in  Holland,  but 
William  Murray  still  lives  in  this  year  of  1630,  reserved,  as  it  would  seem,  to  a 
greater  judgment.  The  Rev.  William  Pope  and  the  Rev.  Thomas,  his  brother, 
thereupon  left  the  country  of  Sutherland,  and  settled  themselves  in  Ross,  where 
Rev.  Thomas,  now  [1630]  dwells.  The  Rev.  William  died  in  the  town  of  Nigg, 
where  he  was  planted  minister.  Thus  did  these  brothers  begin  and  end  in  that 
country,  which  I  have  declared  at  length  to  show  that  man  in  full  prosperity 
should  never  think  too  much  of  himself,  nor  contemn  others  upon  whom  it  has 
not  pleased  God  to  bestow  such  measure  of  gifts  and  benefits." 

It  is  more  than  merely  probable  that  the  Rev.  Hector  Pope,  Loth, 
Sutherlandshire,  who  lived  there  about  1/00,  father  of  the  London  poet's 
double,  was  one  of  these  Popes.  The  poet's  father  came  from  France  to 
settle  in  the  metropolis  as  a  trader,  where  he  made  £10,000,  retiring  near 
Windsor ;  and  the  constant  communication,  then  and  previously,  between 
Scotland  and  that  country,  affords  scope  for  the  inference  that  the  ancestors 
of  the  wit  of  Twickenham  were  of  North-Scottish  origin.  It  is  true  that 
Pope  is  a  name  known  in  various  parts  of  this  island,  even  as  far  to  the 
south  as  Devonshire  ;  but  these  Popes  may  themselves  have  come  from  the 
north,  as  so  many  families  have  since  the  accession  of  the  Stuarts  to  the 
English  crown,  the  Earls  of  Downe  among  the  rest.  The  inquiry  is  worth 
investigation  by  genealogists,  historians,  and  lovers  of  poetry.  A  dictionary 
of  biography  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1/98,  states  that  the  poet  was 
descended  "  of  good  families  on  both  sides  ;"  and  this  was  written  only  54 
years  after  his  death,  in  the  learned  Scottish  capital.  His  mother  Edith 
Turner  was  of  a  known  Yorkshire  family,  and  the  Popes  were  evidently  of 
standing.  The  Paips  (Gordon's  spelling)  or  Papas  of  the  Orkneys  and 
Iceland  were  the  Iona  clergy  or  Culdees,  and  Maepherson  is  a  Gaelic 
reminder  of  the  surname  Pope.  See  the  introduction  of  Anderson  to  the 
"  Orkneyinga  Saga,"  translated  by  Hjaltalin  and  Goudie  ;  where  there  is 
also  some  account  of  the  antiquary's  visit  in  1/58  to  the  circular  chapel  of 
Orphir,  18  feet  in  diameter,  and  to  the  adjacent  remains  of  the  palace  of 
the  Orkney  jarls,  taken  from  Pope's  "  Translation  of  Torfaeus,"  W7ick,  1866. 


138  CAITHNESS 

III.— PEINCE  HENRY  SINCLAIR  II, 

THE   PRE-COLUMBIAN   DISCOVERER   OF   AMERICA,    ONE   OF   THE   ANCESTORS   OF 

THE   CAITHNESS    FAMILY. 

(Read  in  part  at  the  July  Meetings  of  the  Society  De  Sancto-Claro  in 
Chicago  daring  the  Exposition  of  1893.) 
i. 
It  would  be  painting  the  lily  to  go  over  the  ground  traversed  by  Fiske  in 
his  chapter  of  108  pages,  entitled  "  Pre-Columbian  Voyages,"  which  forms 
so  striking  a  part  of  his  book  in  two  volumes,  published  in  1892  by  Mac- 
millan  of  New  York  and  London,  "The  Discovery  of  America."  Handy 
reference  to  all  the  best  literature  of  the  subject  in  various  languages,  is 
found  in  that  work ;  and  with  an  analytic  vigour  of  the  most  scientific  cast, 
and  an  intellectual  sanity  somewhat  rare  in  historical  and  especially  anti- 
quarian fields,  he  gives  the  whole  weight  of  his  reputation  to  the  view  that 
Columbus  only  followed  successful  discovering  predecessors.  Fiske's 
treatment  of  the  Norse  navigators  who  visited  the  American  shores,  from 
as  early  as  the  ninth  century  down  to  their  farewell  to  them  about  the 
twelfth,  is  all  that  the  most  exacting  or  sceptical  could  desire.  Not  a  word 
need  be  said  as  to  the  historical  character  of  those  events,  beyond  what  he 
has  written,  at  once  so  cautiously  and  so  authoritatively.  His  dealing  with 
Prince  Henry  Sinclair,  the  Second,  of  the  Orkney  principality,  is  equally 
cordial  and  sympathetic ;  the  Pre-Columbian  discoverer  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  after  the  Norse  voyaging  had  ceased  for  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  In  a  very  true  sense  Henry  as  a  civilised  man,  in  the 
modern  sense  of  civilisation,  was  the  one  and  only  discoverer  of  America ; 
historians  of  the  future  bound  to  come  to  this  conclusion  by  all  the  canons 
of  criticism.  The  famous  little  book  by  the  Venetian  noblemen  aud  navi- 
gators, the  Zenoes,  of  which  there  is  a  translation  from  Italian  among  the 
Hakluyt  Society's  collection  of  voyages,  and  of  which  there  are  recent 
English  reprints,  has  full  discussion  and  complete  acceptance.  Major's 
enthusiasm  for  the  genuine  character  of  the  narrative,  is  most  carefully 
weighed,  and  as  soundly  admitted  to  be  wholly  praiseworthy.  In  this  field 
of  decision  also,  there  is  little  room  for  any  new  hand,  the  important  con- 
clusions having  been  unmistakably  reached.    With  his  Zeno  admiral,  Prince 


EVENTS.  139 

Henry  first  placed  really  civilised  foot  on  that  continent  which  is  now  the 
home  and  glory  of  more  than  fifty  millions  of  the  earth's  pick  of  white  men 
and  women. 

If,  however,  nothing  can  be  added  to  the  question  now  practically 
settled,  a  fresh  path  of  interest  opens,  to  which  Fiske's  purpose  did  not 
reach.  Of  the  biography  of  his  judiciously  admired  hero  he  gives  only  the 
faintest  outline,  but  enough  for  the  general  plan  of  his  work.  It  is  more 
than  probable,  though  his  studies  of  English,  German,  Italian,  French,  and 
of  Norse  authorities  in  particular,  arc  masterly  in  their  width,  that  he  had 
not  access  to  materials  by  which  he  could  fill  in  the  portrait.  If  he  had 
desired  to  accumulate  biographic  matter,  a  visit  to  Scotland  and  England 
would  hardly  have  much  aided,  so  far  as  the  great  libraries  are  concerned. 
There  would  be  more  hope  in  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  of  securing 
facts  about  the  life  of  one  destined  to  bulk  more  and  more  largely  to  future 
Americans,  as  their  typical  hero  prima3val.  That,  by  various  accidents  and 
studies,  knowledge  of  the  man  has  accumulated. in  one's  hands,  emboldened 
towards  the  present  contribution.  But  it  is  not  for  a  moment  suggested 
that,  should  so  distinguished  a  literary  American  as  Fiske  resolve  to  go  into 
detail  about  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  he  could  not  amass  a  splendid  burden 
of  intelligence ;  his  Scandinavian  research  promising  much  biographical 
fact,  unknown  to  English  and  Latin  survivals  since  the  duke,  prince,  or 
earl's  time,  for  he  is  known  by  all  these  titles. 

One  of  the  minor  difficulties  is  this  alternating  of  titles,  which  a  few 
words  will  explain.  Henry  was  a  Scottish  subject,  the  baron  of  Roslin 
Castle,  so  famous  to  this  hour  as  an  ancient  fortified  home,  with  its 
exquisite  Gothic  chapel,  the  wonder  of  Europe.  Situated  seven  miles  from 
Edinburgh,  on  the  steep  banks  of  a  stream  whose  fame  of  rock  and  wood 
and  water  is  world-wide,  Roslin  is  one  of  the  show-places  of  the  Scottish 
capital,  and  well  known  to  every  traveller ;  Sir  Walter  Scott's  poems  and 
prose  celebrating  its  history  and  glories  by  many  a  passage.  In  Henry,  the 
the  Scottish  and  Norse  sovereignties  overlapped  each  other,  from  his  hold- 
ing Roslin  and  the  principality  of  Orkney  and  Shetland ;  which  principality 
implied  historic  right,  from  the  Scandinavian  point  of  view,  to  all  the 
western  isles  of  Scotland,  as  well  as  to  the  Faroe  Islands,  if  not  to  Iceland. 


140  CAITHNESS 

The  Scotch  kings  and  nobility,  having  conquered  the  Hebrides,  which  to 
Bute  and  Arran  in  Firth  of  Clyde  were  formerly  Norwegian,  held  closest 
watch  over  his  position  and  possible  pretensions ;  who,  however,  seemed  to 
be  entirely  loyal  to  his  Edinburgh  locality  and  associations,  while  faithful 
to  the  King  of  Norway,  to  whom  he  paid  homage  in  the  feudal  style,  as 
earl,  duke,  or  prince,  for  his  northern  territories.  Earl  as  a  dignity  had  not 
the  same  force  in  Scotland  and  Scandinavia.  The  jarl  or  earl  of  the  latter 
was  higher  than  the  duke  as  we  have  him  in  Britain,  who  is  merely  the 
first  noble.  Of  the  equivalent  to  a  Norwegian  earl,  a  Normandy  duke  is 
best  example,  who,  though  he  swore  homage  to  the  King  of  France,  was  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  an  independent  prince,  wearing  a  crown,  waging 
war  solely  at  his  own  will,  and  doing  sovereign  acts,  with  the  shadowiest 
or  no  reference  to  his  feudal  superior.  The  history  of  Norway  from  Harold 
Fairhair,  who  became  in  872  its  first  ruler,  shows  the  jarl  on  all  but  equal 
terms  with  the  king,  and  often  becoming  the  king.  As  much  as  possible 
the  Scottish  earls,  for  policy,  and  perhaps  because  of  natural  jealousy  of 
their  countryman,  obscured  Henry's  position  as  a  Norse  prince,  writing 
him  down  in  the  records  of  Scotland  always  as  comes,  which  was  the  ordi- 
nary Latin  for  the  title  of  count  or  earl  as  held  by  themselves,  who  were 
only  nobles.  In  the  position  of  being  between  two  stools,  Prince  Henry 
would  accept  the  description,  as  keeping  down  antagonisms  to  him,  from 
holding  a  foreign  dignity  of  the  kind  absolutely  next  to  supreme.  It  was 
practically  supreme,  for  he  held  a  regular  royal  court  at  Kirkwall,  the  head 
town  of  the  Orkneys,  famous  for  its  cathedral  and  its  castles  or  palaces. 

His  son  and  successor,  William,  Jarl  or  Prince  of  Orkney,  was  urged  by 
the  Stuart  monarchs  of  Scotland,  James  the  Second  and  James  the  Third, 
finally  by  the  latter  on  occasion  of  his  marriage  in  1470  to  Margaret  of  Den- 
mark, to  give  up  the  principality  for  political  peace  between  Scotland  and 
Scandinavia ;  its  annexation  to  the  former  kingdom  taking  place  in  1468, 
preparatory  to  that  marriage,  as  a  dowry  money  pledge  which,  not  fulfilled, 
makes  those  northern  islands  still  technically  Scandinavian  territory,  on 
payment  of  the  sum.  William,  it  is  true,  had  compensation  for  royal 
acquisition  of  his  island  rights,  by  receiving  the  earldom  of  Caithness  in 
1455,  and  rich  lands  in  Fifeshire,  Dumfriesshire,  and  other  counties,  with  a 


EVENTS.  141 

state  yearly  income,  at  the  annexation ;  but  he  thus  subsided  from  a  sove- 
reign position  to  that  of  a  Scottish  noble,  whose  lands  and  influence  were 
afterwards  wholly  confined  within  the  dominions  of  the  Stuarts  as  kings  of 
Scotland.  The  convenience  of  this  to  the  latter  is  apparent,  as  it  finished 
all  potential  aspirations  of  re-attaching  to  Scandinavia  its  former  archipelago 
empire,  which  it  is  now  known  extended  to  Vinland  or  America,  and  which 
well  down  to  King  Haco's  death  in  1263  at  Kirkwall,  occupied  all  the 
islands  and  much  of  the  mainlands  of  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

Torfaeus,  the  Scandinavian  historian,  Who  told  the  modern  world  most 
about  Vinland,  born  in  Iceland  in  1636,  and  who  died  in  1720,  one  of  the 
most  learned  of  his  period,  gives  the  exact  position  to  Henry,  as  prince  of 
that  archipelago  of  islands,  in  the  following  passage  from  his  work  in  Latin 
entitled  "Orcades": — "In  the  year  1398,  Henry  Sinclair,  Jarl  of  Orkney 
(being  declared  the  next  in  rank  to  the  king,  by  Archbishop  Vinold  of 
Nidar  and  the  rest  of  the  bishops  and  senators,  with  the  other  councillors 
of  the  Norwegian  kingdom),  proclaimed,  by  a  long  document,  that  Eric  was 
the  true  heir  and  successor  to  the  kingdom  of  Norway."  His  precedence 
as  second  person  in  the  Norwegian  realm,  sufficiently  authenticates  the 
standing ;  his  sea-kingdom  of  the  islands,  in  the  days  when  ships  were 
the  wealth,  making  him  probably  the  superior  of  his  nominal  sovereign  in 
actual  means. 

ii. 

Before  noting  further  biography  of  Prince  Henry,  let  mention  be  made 
of  a  notable  piece  published  in  the  United  States,  December,  1892,  entitled 
"  Honours  for  Seven,"  by  Marie  de  Sancto  Claro,  and  also  an  article  in  the 
Boston  Transcript  of  12th  September,'  1892,  over  the  signature  Mary 
Whitney  Emerson,  Morgan  City,  Louisiana ;  both  papers  the  work  of  the 
secretary  of  the  De  Sancto  Claro  Society.  She  brilliantly  makes  a  Pleiades 
of  discoverers  of  America,  namely,  the  five  Norse  rovers  from  the  ninth 
century,  Henry  Sinclair,  Prince  of  the  Norseland  Isles,  and,  lastly,  Colum- 
bus. What  is  even  more  striking,  is  her  very  original  idea  that  all  those 
daring  adventurers,  except  Columbus,  the  Italian,  were  of  the  blood  royal 
of  Rollo,  Duke  of  Normandy.  This  Norseman  finally  established  himself 
in  that  fairest  province  of  France  as  sovereign,  in  912,  by  a  treaty  with 


142  CAITHNESS 

King  Charles,  who  gave  him  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  clinch  the  bargain. 
Their  meeting,  backed  by  armies,  took  place  at  St.  Clair  Castle  on  the 
river  Epte,  the  ruins  of  which  still  top  a  conical  hill  commanding  a  view  of 
the  richest  landscape  in  Gaul,  as  is  testified  from  actual  examination  during 
a  long  summer  day.  When  so  extraordinary  a  theory  was  realised,  which 
made  Prince  Henry  the  sixth  of  his  relatives  who  touched  at,  and  resided 
during  intervals  in,  Vineland  or  North  America,  one  thought  only  would 
come,  namely,  that  the  moral  courage,  as  well  as  the  quick  insight,  belongs 
especially  to  woman,  and  that  in  genealogical  and  historical  studies  she  has 
fresh  fields  and  pastures  new  to  conquer.  The  point  is  so  startling,  but 
withal  probable,  that  the  masculine  mind  dare  not,  till  after  much  slow 
plodding,  say  a  word  about  it.  Should  the  De  Sancto  Claro  Society 
establish  such  a  sweeping  and  marvellous  conclusion,  by  many  years'  study, 
that  of  itself  would  give  reason  for  its  existence.  The  Norse  discoverers, 
especially  the  pink  of  them,  Prince  Henry,  would  completely  take  the  wind 
out  of  the  brave  enough  sails  of  Columbus ;  though  detracting  nothing  from 
his  essentially  heroic  spirit  and  labours.  Henceforth  he,  however,  would  be 
considered  a  follower  and  not  a  leader ;  a  thought  not  in  any  degree  novel, 
because  it  has  been  frequently  stated  that  he  gained  his  knowledge  of  the 
existence  of  the  American  continent  during  a  voyage  to  Iceland ;  the  state- 
ment prevalent  long  before  rivalry  with  him  as  the  discoverer,  true  or 
pretended,  had  developed.  In  civilised  periods,  Prince  Henry  of  the 
Orkneys  preceded  him  there  by  more  than  a  century,  aided  by  the  keen 
Italian  intellect,  the  source  then  of  so  many  novelties,  though  the  prince  wras 
himself  the  daring  iEneas  in  search  of  new  kingdoms. 

The  secretary  of  the  society  is  Mrs.  May  St.  Clair  Whitney-Emerson, 
only  daughter  of  Levi  St.  Clair  Whitney,  whose  mother  wTas  Mary  St.  Clair, 
descended  from  John  Sinclair  of  Lybster,  Reay,  fraternal  nephew  of  George, 
fifth  Earl  of  Caithness.  John  went  from  Leith  to  Exeter,  New  Hampshire, 
America,  in  1655  ;  and  well  is  he  represented  by  his  Emerson  descendant 
among  his  other  kin  there.  The  society  by  enlarging  its  borders,  on  scien- 
tific principles  of  fairness  towards  feminine  descent,  to  many  surnames,  does 
away  with  a  sameness  which  dims  the  attractions  of  British  clan  societies, 
such  as  the  Mackay,  Fraser,  Cameron,  and  others.     Republican  generosity 


EVENTS.  143 

towards  men  and  women  generally,  as  equals  before  God  and  the  law,  is 
not  offended  by  genealogical  superiorities  of  catholic  width,  founded  on 
actual  attainments  by  energy,  blood,  or  even  chance,  which  rules  proverbi- 
ally in  human  affairs.  It  is  a  parallel  that  a  Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh, 
John  Sinclair,  a  famous  brewer  in  Leith,  the  forefather  and  first  baronet, 
1636,  of  the  family  of  Stevenston,  Haddingtonshire,  and  since  1765  also  of 
Murkle  in  Caithness-shire,  founded  a  Sinclair  society  about  1620,  noted  as 
extant  well  on  in  the  eighteenth  century.  He  died  in  1648.  A  Scotch 
song  entitled  "  The  Clouting  of  the  Cauldron  "  was  made  about  the  brewer, 
who  was  son  of  George,  the  second  son  of  Matthew  of  Longformacus,  who 
flourished  in  1567,  an  early  offshoot  from  the  Roslin  stem,  the  lairds  of 
Longformacus  baronets  till  their  extinction  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  If,  as  Hay  says,  James  of  Longformacus  who,  with  his  son  John, 
fought  at  the  battle  of  Homildon  Hill  in  1401,  was  the  son  of  the  discoverer 
of  America,  the  brewer  had  good  traditions  from  the  Longformacus  Ber- 
wickshire lairds.  Another  son  he  supposes  to  have  been  the  Sir  Walter 
who  was  killed  in  that  fight,  so  fatal  to  Scots.  In  1388,  at  the  battle  of 
Chevy  Chase  or  Otterburne,  Sir  Walter  and  Sir  John,  brothers,  it  is  thought, 
received  the  last  breath  of  their  relative  the  Douglas,  of  which  scene  of 
sorrowful  affection  Froissart,  the  French  chronicler,  tells ;  "  Hotspur " 
Percy  their  beaten  opponent.     Sir  John  was  brother  of  Prince  Henry. 

in. 
The  way  is  now  open  to  exhibit  passages  from  the  life  of,  at  any  rate, 
by  far  the  greatest  of  the  discoverers,  as  the  world  ordinarily  calculates 
greatness  ;  and  perhaps  according  to  such  special  worlds  as  those  of  history, 
literature,  and  science.  In  discussing  the  narrative  by  the  Zeno  brothers 
from  Venice,  Fiske  says  Sir  Nicholas  Zeno  arrived  in  his  ship  at  the  Faroe 
Isles,  north  of  Orkney  and  Shetland,  in  1390,  only  to  be  shipwrecked. 
Prince  Henry,  who  had  been  invested  with  his  principality  by  Hacon  VI. 
of  Norway  in  1379,  was  there  with  thirteen  vessels,  and  succoured  the 
strangers  generously,  communicating  by  speech  with  them,  the  narrative 
says,  in  Latin.  Sir  Antonio  Zeno  arrived  at  the  Orkneys  in  1391,  and  did 
not  return  to  Venice  till  1406,  during  which  time  the  American  expeditions 


144  CAITHNESS 

took  place.  A  letter  from  Sir  Antonio  to  the  ambassador,  Sir  Carlo,  another 
brother  in  Italy,  describes  their  kind  lord  as  "a  prince  as  worthy  of 
immortal  memory  as  any  that  ever  lived,  for  his  great  bravery  and  remark- 
able goodness."  The  above  dates  authenticate  the  particular  Henry  of  the 
Roslin  family's  lineage  who  is  meant ;  for  there  are  several  of  this  first  name 
in  the  line,  and  like  him,  men  of  the  highest  mark  in  the  affairs  of  states 
especially  of  the  north  of  Europe.  He  was  grandson  of  Henry  the  first 
prince  of  Orkney  of  his  surname. 

His  grandfather  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Julius  Sparrc,  Prince 
of  Orkney,  Earl  of  Caithness,  and  Earl  of  Stratherne,  through  which  mar- 
riage that  Henry  became  prince.  Father  Hay,  born  at  Edinburgh,  16th 
August,  1661,  the  historian  of  the  family,  who  was  a  relative,  his  mother  Jean 
Spottiswood  being  first  Mrs.  Hay,  and  then  lady  of  the  laird  of  Roslin,  had 
access  to  the  charters  of  Roslin  Castle,  and  says  the  prince  had  power  to 
stamp  coin  within  his  dominions,  to  make  laws,  and  to  remit  crimes.  "  He 
had  his  sword  of  honour  carried  before  him  wherever  he  went ;  he  had  a 
crown  in  his  armorial  bearings ;  and  he  bore  a  crown  on  his  head  when  he 
constituted  laws."  But  Hay's  next  statement  is  still  more  important,  the 
quotation  already  given  from  Torfaeus  about  the  grandson,  the  hero  of  dis- 
covery, corroborated  : — "  In  a  word,  he  was  subject  to  none,  except  that  he 
held  his  lands  from  the  kings  of  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  and  paid 
homage.  To  him  also  it  belonged  to  crown  the  kings,  so  that  in  all  those 
parts  he  was  esteemed  second  person  to  the  king.  He  built  Kirkwall 
Castle  [demolished  1615],  Orkney,  and  proved  valiant  in  all  his  doings." 
The  famous  letter  of  the  Scotch  nobility  had  his  signature  at  Arbroath  in 
1320,  asking  the  pope  to  acknowledge  Robert  Bruce  as  king  ;  and  he  is 
designed  there  as  Panetarins  Scotiae,  that  is,  royal  or  chief  baker  of  Scot- 
land, a  household  office  of  state  understood  by  reference  to  the  same  under 
the  Pharaoh  kings  of  Egypt.  He  was  governor  of  the  kingdom's  corn 
trade  thus.  Of  the  dignity,  no  easier  proof  can  be  given  than  that  Sir 
Andrew  Murray,  when  husband  of  a  daughter  of  Robert  I.,  was  Panetarius 
Scotiae  before  it  became  hereditary  to  the  Earls  of  Orkney.  In  Dr.  Joseph 
Anderson's  1873  edition  of  the  "Orkneyinga  Saga,"  with  introduction  and 
notes  discussing  these  subjects  extensively,  there  is  one  piece  of  information 


EVENTS.  145 

which  attaches  the  discoverer's  line  early  and  directly  to  Caithness  events. 
An  Alexander  Brown  who  was  an  enemy  of  King  Robert  Bruce  had  fled  to 
Orkney,  and  in  1321  "Henry  Sinclair,  the  king's  bailie  in  Caithness,"  was 
commissioned  to  secure  him.  This  is  the  Panetarius  Scotiae,  and  his  crown 
factorship  perhaps  explains  the  first  arrival  of  the  Roslins  in  the  regions  of 
the  Pentland  Firth.  Rymer's  "  Foedera "  mentions  him  as  one  of  the 
twelve  earls  of  Scotland,  "  Scotland  "  then  not  implying  the  Orkneys,  whose 
signature  Edward  II.  of  England  asked  in  1323  to  the  truce  of  thirteen 
years  between  himself  and  King  Robert  Bruce ;  but  if,  as  this  implies, 
and  as  is  said,  he  had  a  charter  of  Caithness,  it  was  resumed  by  David  II. 
or  Robert  II.,  whose  son  David  Stuart  had  the  peerage  before  1378. 
Henry  being  king's  chamberlain  of  the  county,  promotion  to  its  earldom 
was  almost  a  corollary,  despite  Sir  Robert  Gordon's  weak  carping,  his 
wishes  the  fathers  to  his  thoughts. 

This  first  Prince  Henry's  son  William,  was  father  of  the  discoverer. 
William  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Malise  Grahame  ;  from  which 
family  came  two  of  Scotland's  greatest  men,  the  Marquis  of  Montrose  and 
Viscount  Dundee.  Through  her,  Camden  the  great  antiquary  says  in  his 
Latin  work  "  Britannia,"  William,  grandson  of  this  William,  obtained  the 
earldom  of  Caithness  in  1455;  and  he  is  described  as  regius  panetarius, 
the  royal  baker ;  the  earldom,  it  would  seem,  a  resumption  rather  than  a 
new  grant.  The  Grahame  earls  of  Stratherne  had  rights  over  Caithness 
and  over  lands  in  Orkney,  through  marriage  with  one  of  the  Sparre  women, 
just  like  the  Sinclairs ;  and  they  were  all  near  relatives  accordingly,  with 
involved  positions,  some  of  the  male  Sparres  long  contesting  the  standing  of 
the  heiresses,  their  husbands,  and  descendants. 

IV. 

Grahame  by  his  mother,  Prince  Henry,  the  navigator  to  America,  has 
the  following  written  of  him  by  Father  Hay  : — "  He  was  Prince  of  Orkney, 
Lord  Sinclair,  Lord  Zetland,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Scotland  [an  office 
obtained  hereditarily  by  his  grandfather],  Admiral  of  the  Scottish  seas,  Lord- 
warden  of  the  three  marches,  Lord  Nithsdale,  baron  of  Roslin,  Pentland, 
Cousland,  Cardan,  Herbertshire,   Hectfoord,  Grahameshaw,  Kirkton,   and 


U6  CAITHNESS 

Cavers.  He  was  also  Great  Protector,  Keeper,  and  Guardian  of  the  Prince 
of  Scotland  [as  his  grandfather  was  in  his  time,  and  his  father  Prince  William, 
if  such  care  of  the  crown  -  prince  was  hereditary].  He  married  Egidia 
Douglas,  daughter  to  Sir  William  [and  niece  of  one  of  the  several  Archi- 
balds who  were  Earls  of  Douglas].  The  fair  Egidia  excelled  all  in  her  time, 
grand -da  ughter  to  King  Robert  the  Second.  Her  beauty  so  dazzled  the  eyes 
of  beholders  that  they  became  presently  astonished,  but  recovered  in  admir- 
ing this  princess.  Through  the  marriage,  the  Prince  of  Orkney  obtained 
great  lands  and  authority,  all  the  lordship  of  Nithsdale,  the  wardenry  of 
the  three  marches  between  England  and  Scotland,  the  baronies  of  Hectford, 
Herbertshire,  Graham eshaw,  Kirkton,  Cavers,  and  Roxburgh,  the  sheriffship 
of  Nithsdale,  with  the  provostship  of  the  town  of  Dumfries.  He  was  a 
valiant  prince,  well-proportioned,  of  middle  stature,  hasty,  and  stern." 

He  had  nine  sisters,  the  eldest  the  Countess  of  Douglas,  the  second 
married  to  Ramsay  of  Dalhousie,  the  third  to  the  laird  of  Calder,  the  fourth 
to  Forrester  of  Corstorphine,  the  fifth  the  Countess  of  Errol,  her  husband 
Lord  High  Constable  of  Scotland,  the  sixth  wedded  to  Tweedie  of 
Drumelzier,  the  seventh  to  Cockburn  of  Stirling,  the  eighth  to  Herring  of 
Mareton,  and  the  ninth  to  Lord  Somerville.  His  eldest  daughter  was 
Countess  of  March,  and  his  daughter  Beatrix  was  wife  of  James,  the 
seventh  Earl  of  Douglas,  mother  of  two  Earls  of  Douglas,  of  Archibald 
Douglas  the  Earl  of  Murray,  of  Hugh  Douglas  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  of  John 
Douglas  the  Lord  Balveny,  Henry  Douglas  the  Bishop  of  Dunkeld ;  her 
daughters,  Margaret,  Lady  Dalkeith,  Janet,  Lady  Fleming,  and  Elizabeth 
Douglas,  wife  of  John  Stuart  of  the  royal  family,  Earl  of  Buchan  and 
Constable  of  France.  Beatrix's  Latin  epitaph  is  extant.  Her  father,  the 
discoverer,  had  the  greatest  part  of  the  nobility  his  vassals,  under  bond  of 
manrent,  as  Lords  Salton,  Chrichton,  Seaton,  Dirlton,  Halifcxburn,  Living- 
stone, Fleming,  Borthwick,  and  Dalkeith,  with  Foster  of  Westendry, 
Preston  of  Craigmillar,  Herring  of  Gilmerton,  Sinclair  of  Herdmanston, 
Wauchope  of  Niddry,  and  the  lairds  of  Edmiston,  Pennycook,  Hendcrleith, 
Douglas  of  Pumpherston,  and  many  others.  Except  Earl  Douglas  and  the 
Earl  of  March,  most  of  the  Scottish  landholders  were  bound  to  him. 

"He  had  continually  in  his  house/'  says  Hay,  "300  riding  gentlemen, 


EVENTS.  147 

and  his  princess  had  55  gentlewomen,  of  whom  35  were  ladies.  He  had 
his  dainties  tasted  before  him.  When  he  went  to  Orkney,  he  had  meeting 
him  300  men  with  scarlet  gowns  and  coats  of  black  velvet.  It  was  he  who 
built  the  great  dungeon  of  Roslin  Castle,  and  several  walls  there.  He 
made  parks  for  fallow  and  red  deer.  By  King  Robert  [Stuart]  the  Third  he 
was  much  esteemed,  and  therefore  had  Prince  James,  the  first  of  that  name, 
in  keeping,  lest  he  should  be  assassinated  by  the  treason  of  Robert,  Duke 
of  Albany,  Earl  of  Fife  and  Menteith,  who  had  the  whole  government  of 
the  kingdom.  After  the  king  his  brother's  death,  Albany  aimed  at  the 
crown,  for  by  treason  he  had  slain  the  king's  eldest  son,  and  had  thought  to 
do  the  same  to  Prince  James.  Robert  the  Third,  however,  before  his 
death,  wrote  letters  to  the  kings  of  France  and  England,  stating  that  his 
son  was  to  go  to  the  former  country  for  his  education  ;  and  he  entrusted 
him,  with  young  Percy,  nephew  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  to  the 
Prince  of  Orkney  in  1405  to  pass  the  seas." 

"  The  Book  of  Cowper,"  that  is,  Forduu,  says,  "  The  crown-prince 
stayed  at  a  certain  place  a  short  time,  when,  behold  his  father  the  king 
secretly  resolved  to  send  away  his  dear  son,  consulting  for  his  safety  with  a 
noble  man,  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  and  of  an  honourable  family."  Leslie 
in  his  "  History  "  states  that  Henry  and  some  other  earls  were  atcached  to 
this  voyage.  Buchanan's  account  is  : — "  The  ship  having  been  equipped  at 
the  Bass,  a  rock  rather  than  an  island  [in  the  Firth  of  Forth],  and  Henry 
Sinclair,  Earl  of  Orkney,  appointed  its  captain,  Prince  James  embarked, 
and  while  the  vessel  hugged  the  shore  near  Flamborough  Head  [in  York- 
shire], either  forced  by  stress  of  weather,  or  whether  the  youth  wished  to 
be  refreshed  a  little  from  sea-sickness,  he  landed,  and  was  seized  by  the 
English  ;  and,  while  their  king  should  decide  what  was  to  be  done  about 
him,  he  was  retained  in  his  palace."  Boethius  says,  "  A  ship  having  been 
made  ready,  and  letters  of  commendation  sent  to  both  kings,  that  fortune 
might  be  met  whatever  should  happen,  they  set  sail  from  the  very  strong 
Bass  Castle,  under  command  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  with  other  nobles 
accompanying  him."  King  Robert  III.,  reputed  bastard  like  William  the 
Conqueror,  is  said  to  have  died  of  grief  at  the  news  of  the  capture  and 
perfidious   retention   of  his   son   James   Stuart   in  England.     But  Henry 


US  CAITHNESS 

Fourth,  the  Usurper,  had  the  grace  to  educate  the  youth  to  the  highest 
possible  point ;  favoured  in  this  by  the  splendid  grounding  he  had  under 
the  hereditary  tutor  of  royalty,  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  whose  castles  of 
Roslin  and  Kirkwall  were  historically-acknowledged  centres  of  learning. 
At  Kirkwall  Castle  particularly,  with  its  neighbouring  huge  cathedral  of 
St.  Magnus  and  the  Bishop's  Palace,  the  crown-prince  of  Scotland  had  till 
his  twelfth  year  the  noblest  initiation.  That  he  afterwards  became  the 
author  of  "  The  King's  Quhair,"  a  poem  hardly  second  to  the  best  efforts  of 
his  contemporary  Chaucer,  is  no  wonder  at  all  with  such  luck  of  early  and 
later  education.  The  discoverer  had  all  the  tales  of  America  to  tell  to  his 
beloved  pupil,  for  whom  he  supplied  masters  in  learning  of  the  first 
European  quality.  That  Henry  could  speak  to  the  Zenoes  in  Latin,  was 
indication  of  at  least  one  section  of  his  scholarly  faculty. 

But  if  the  future  king  could  be  retained  in  the  English  court,  his 
guardian  was  not  the  man  to  hug  chains  of  the  most  gilded  kind,  but 
escaped  from  England.  John  Robison,  indweller  at  Pcntlancl,  and  tenant 
to  the  Prince  of  Orkney,  came  to  where  his  master  was  imprisoned  ;  and 
there  he  played  the  fool  so  cunningly,  that  without  any  suspicion  he  was 
allowed  to  enter  the  prison  [probably  the  Tower  of  London],  as  often  as  he 
pleased.  Watching  his  opportunity,  he  conveyed  the  Prince  of  Orkney 
outside  the  gates  in  disguised  apparel  prepared  for  the  purpose.  They 
stopped  not  till  they  reached  a  thick  forest,  where  they  hid  next  day, 
continuing  their  journey  by  night,  lest  they  should  be  taken  by  their 
pursuers.  They  reached  the  Borders,  though  the  king  had  put  his  officers 
everywhere  on  the  alert.  Two  southerns  there  insulted  them  by  asking 
them  to  hold  their  horses,  both  of  whom  Prince  Henry  struck  lifeless  to  the 
ground  [no  doubt,  after  blows  on  each  side  in  the  usual  manner  of  armed 
quarrel].  When  they  arrived  at  Roslin  Castle,  Robison  would  take  no 
reward  for  his  devotion.  The  two  other  magnates  of  Scotland,  Archibald 
the  Earl  of  Douglas  and  George  Dunbar  the  Earl  of  March,  together  with 
all  his  vassal  nobles,  at  once  visited  Prince  Henry  on  his  return,  to  con- 
gratulate him  on  his  gallant  escape.  But  Robert  Stuart,  Duke  of  Albany, 
the  governor  of  the  kingdom,  because  of  hatred  for  saving  the  heir  to  the 
throne  from  his  hands,  accused  him  of  betraying  James  to  the  English,  and 


EVENTS.  149 

appointed  a  court  to  try  him  for  treason,  to  involve  his  life  and  fortunes. 
Prince  Henry  promptly  met  the  trick,  indignant  at  such  a  forged  accusation. 
Collecting  great  forces,  especially  from  the  Zetland  and  the  Orkney  isles,  he 
sent  an  answer  to  the  summons  of  Regent  Albany,  that  he  would  certainly 
appear  on  the  day  appointed  for  his  trial,  but  that  one  town  could  not 
contain  them  both,  without  special  preparations  of  lodging  for  men  and 
stabling  for  horses.  The  regent  was  so  offended  at  this  threat  and 
pleasantry,  that  he  had  10,000  men  ready  in  Edinburgh  for  the  day,  so  as 
to  deal  with  Prince  Henry  by  force.  Having  40,000  men,  the  latter  capped 
Duke  Albany's  efforts,  who,  with  three  of  his  officials,  fled  to  Falkland 
Castle,  Fifeshire,  where  David,  Earl  of  Rothesay,  the  heir  to  the  throne? 
Prince  James's  eldest  brother,  lost  his  life.  Sinclair,  Douglas,  and  Dunbar 
then  constituted  a  parliament  to  depose  Albany,  and  to  impeach  him  for 
treason  as  murderer  of  David,  the  story  running  that  he  had  starved  him  to 
death.  But  the  regent  sent  imploring  letters  and  messengers  to  the 
triumvirate,  who,  for  the  public  weal,  restored  him  to  office,  his  skill  as  a 
ruler  generally  admitted,  and  his  crime,  if  he  did  it,  not  provable  ;  a  parlia- 
mentary document  having  pronounced  him  not  responsible  for  his  nephew's 
death,  his  enemies  ascribing  such  a  finding  to  the  general  dread  of  his 
ability. 

Not  long  after  these  events  a  dispute  arose  between  Henry  and  his 
relation  Archibald,  Earl  of  Douglas,  about  the  sheriffship  of  Nithsdale, 
various  lands,  and  the  wardenry  of  the  marches,  which  he  had  by  his 
beautiful  wife,  Egidia  Douglas.  It  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  Prince  Henry 
would  not  allow  Earl  Douglas  to  ride  through  his  Roslin  estates,  on  his  way 
to  the  court  or  capital,  Edinburgh.  But,  says  Hay,  "  for  all  this,  there  was 
no  slaughter."  There  is  a  complaint  in  Latin  by  the  princess,  as  late  as 
1428,  then  a  dowager,  telling  the  king  that  she  had  been  despoiled  of 
Nithsdale  and  its  pertinents.  She  is  called  the  noble  and  venerable  lady, 
Egidia,  Countess  of  Orkney  and  Lady  of  the  Vale  of  Nlth  ;  her  son,  Prince 
William  of  Orkney,  backing  up  the  complaint,  her  brave  husband  the 
discoverer  then  dead. 

To  return  to  him,  he  had  his  victuals  brought  by  sea  from  the  north,  in 
great  abundance,  to  Roslin  Castle.     His  house  was  free  for  all  men,  so  that 


150  CAITHNESS 

there  was  no  poor  person  of  his  friends  who  did  not  receive  food  and 
raiment,  and  no  tenant  rented  to  a  degree  that  did  not  leave  him  prosperous. 
"  In  a  word,  he  was  a  pattern  of  piety  to  all  his  posterity."  To  the  abbey 
of  Holyroocl  House,  Edinburgh,  he  gave  lands  which  could  support  7000 
sheep  ;  and  to  the  service  of  God,  in  many  churches,  he  bountifully 
presented  gold,  silver,  silks,  and  other  materials  necessary  for  beauty  of 
worship.  His  own  relatives  were  well  provided  for,  his  legally  able  brother 
John,  who  married  Ingeberg,  daughter  of  Waldemar,  King  of  Denmark, 
receiving  Kirkton,  Loganhousc,  Earncraig,  East  and  West  Summer-Hopes, 
with  other  lands.  One  of  his  daughters  married  Dunbar,  Earl  of  March. 
Beatrix  his  daughter  has  been  mentioned  as  Countess  of  Douglas. 

A  "  History  of  Sutherland,"  quoted  by  Hay,  says  Henry  was  Prince  of 
Orkney  and  Shetland,  Duke  of  Oldenburg  in  Denmark,  Lord  Sinclair, 
Knight  of  the  Cockle  of  France,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  St.  George  of 
England,  though  it  is  noted  that  he  is  not  so  enrolled  in  the  register  of  St. 
George  knights  at  Windsor.  His  son  William  added  to  these  titles  Knight 
of  the  Golden  Fleece  of  Spain,  Lord  Chancellor  of  Scotland,  till,  by 
accumulation  of  an  able  line,  their  titles  might  "  weary  a  Spaniard,"  as  the 
author  carps. 

Many  further  details  can  be  gathered  about  the  discoverer  from  the 
"  Genealogy  "  by  Father  Richard  Augustine  Hay,  Prior  of  St.  Pierremont, 
France,  which  work  includes  in  it  the  chartulary  or  charters  of  Roslin. 
Henry's  birth  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  about  1345,  and  his  death 
certainly  was  between  1417  and  1428,  by  two  charters  recorded  in  the 
chartulary,  though  a  nearer  dating  than  this  can  be  fixed  gradually 
hereafter. 

v. 

His  beautiful  Douglas  was  the  wife  of  his  old  age,  which  is  proved, 
among  other  ways,  by  the  fact  that  the  rule  of  the  Orkneys  was  held  by 
prefects,  appointed  by  the  Norwegian  crown,  till  Prince  William  his  son 
came  of  age.  Thomas  Tulloch,  Bishop  of  Orkney,  in  1422  was  entrusted 
with  the  administration  of  the  northern  isles  by  Eric,  King  of  Norway ;  and 
the  "  Book  of  Cowper"  expressly  mentions  that  the  second  Henry  who  was 
count  of  Orkney  died  in  that  year.     Another  Latin  work,  by  Meursius,  says 


EVENTS.  151 

that  in  1423  David  Manners,  a  Scotchman,  succeeded  the  bishop  in  the 
prefecture.  But  he  ruled  so  badly  that  he  was  ejected  from  the  province, 
and  the  government  came  again  into  Bishop  Tulloch's  hands  in  1428.  It 
was  not,  according  to  Meursius,  till  1434  that,  in  the  month  of  August,  King 
Eric  conferred  the  county  of  Orkney,  under  the  name  of  client,  upon  William 
Sinclair  of  the  Scottish  nobility,  and  received  his  homage.  Another  writer, 
Pontan,  says  that  Eric  the  Eighth  of  Norway  on  10th  August,  1434,  installed 
William  de  Sancto  Claro,  a  noble  Scotchman,  as  count  of  the  Orkneys ;  the 
implication  being  that  he  had  then  reached  age,  such  a  ceremony  happening 
at  the  accession  of  each  of  those  princes,  as  was  usual  to  the  feudal  system. 

Pontan  gives  the  terms  of  clientship  between  the  king  and  this  prince. 
The  latter  was  to  supply  100  men,  fully  armed,  at  three  months'  notice, 
when  the  Norwegian  service  required  soldiers,  the  king  to  give  them  all 
necessaries  in  the  field.  If  Orkney  and  Shetland  were  invaded,  William 
must  collect  all  forces  in  the  island  and  defend  himself.  He  was  not  to 
build  castles  and  fortresses  without  agreement  of  the  king.  The  inhabitants, 
rich  and  poor,  cleric  and  lay,  would  be  bridled  by  the  usual  laws.  Pomona 
island  and  its  castle  of  Kirkwall,  on  William's  death,  would  return  to  the 
King  of  Norway  or  his  successor.  This  is  the  usual  surrender  for  the  fresh 
grant  to  the  new  heir.  There  was  to  be  no  pledging  of  the  returns  obtained 
from  dispensing  justice.  Little  more  bond  was  between  them,  evidently 
the  amity  of  feudal  subordination  all  that  was  meant.  Some  clauses  about 
not  exciting  disputes  within  the  domain,  and  of  appealing  to  the  laws  of 
Norway  as  last  resort,  with  commendation  of  the  clergy  to  William's  care, 
completed  the  gentlest  of  clientships. 

The  prince's  witnesses  and  cautioners  were  Henry,  Columba,  and 
Robert,  bishops  respectively  of  Aberdeen,  Apran,  and  Caithness,  the  Earls 
of  Douglas,  Angus,  and  March,  Sir  William  Corck,  Sir  Alexander  Ramsay, 
John  Sinclair,  and  Andrew  Chrichton,  armsbearing  gentlemen.  In  place  of 
the  hostages  which  his  great-grandfather,  Henry  the  First,  Prince  of  the 
Orkneys,  gave  to  Haco,  King  of  Norway,  the  seals  wrere  accepted  of  Thomas 
Sinclair,  David  Mundtov,  Olaf  Geton,  Alexander  Proun,  Robert  Berion, 
and  John  Haroldson,  armsbearers.  He  promised  to  send  copies  of  his 
installation  writ  to  the  Archbishop  of  Nidro,  Affleck  by  name,  to  Thomas 


152  CAITHNESS 

Tulloch,  Bishop  of  Orkney,  the  governor  during  his  minority,  to  John, 
Bishop  of  Anflo,  to  Andrew,  Bishop  of  Stavanger,  to  Peter,  Bishop  of 
Hammer,  to  Olaf,  Bishop  of  Bergen,  to  Erland,  Erlandi,  and  the  rest  of 
knightly  and  senatorial  rank  of  the  kingdom  of  Norway.  King  James  I.  of 
Scotland  stipulated  with  his  uncle,  King  Eric  of  Norway,  that  the  royal 
Scottish  seal  should  be  adhibited  to  these  written  conditions  by  William, 
Earl  of  Orkney,  the  document  drawn  up  at  Haffnia  in  Norway. 

Both  Father  Hay  and  Torfaeus  have  Latin  accounts  of  the  investiture  ; 
the  former  getting  his  from  Pontanus,  book  9,  p.  596,  and  the  latter  his 
from  Scandinavia,  where,  says  the  historian,  "  the  whole  document  is 
preserved  in  the  royal  archives,  and  a  copy  was  made  to  me  most 
clemently."  The  substance  of  the  investitures  of  all  the  princes  of  Orkney  is 
almost  the  same  ;  showing  that  the  politeness  of  feudalism  meant  a  formality 
rather  than  real  bonds,  an  acknowledgment  of  comradeship  more  than  any 
attempt  of  subordination,  beyond  what  was  inevitable.  The  European 
system  of  fee,  feu,  or  feod,  at  its  flowering  period  of  those  centuries,  was 
republican  in  its  generosity  of,  at  all  events,  equality  among  peers ;  a 
sovereign  admittedly  only  the  first  among  his  nobles,  as  with  William  the 
Conqueror  and  his  Normans.  King  Eric  and  Prince  William  of  Orkney 
were  therefore  all  but  formally  equals. 

It  was  the  distinguished  son  of  the  discoverer  of  America  who  became, 
as  is  generally  reckoned,  the  first  Sinclair  Earl  of  Caithness ;  his  mother's 
complaint  (the  beautiful  Egidia  Douglas,  of  stature  above  ordinary,  holy  of 
life,  excellent  in  her  mind,  with  a  soul  of  candour,  to  use  the  ancient  phrases 
about  her),  that  Nithsdale  had  been  unjustly  taken  from  her,  satisfied  by  the 
grant  to  her  son  of  the  earldom  of  Caithness,  from  James  the  Second  in 
1455,  in  exchange  for  that  beautiful  valley,  of  which  Dumfries  is  now  the 
head  town.  The  same  monarch  also  created  him  Grand  Master  of  the 
Freemasons  of  Scotland,  hereditarily,  see  Mrs.  Stowe's  "  Sunny  Memories  ; " 
the  building  of  Roslin  Gothic  chapel,  an  immortal  testimony  to  his  sympathy 
with  the  highest  architecture.  His  descendant,  the  last  Baron  of  Roslin, 
the  model  from  whom  Sir  Walter  Scott  drew  his  Douglas  of  "  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake,"  resigned  the  honour,  as  having  no  male  descent,  in  circumstances 
of  pomp  and  appreciation  at  Edinburgh  in  1778,  for  which  see  The  Scots 


EVENTS.  153 

Magazine.  Prince  William,  the  discoverer's  son,  by  marriages  with  a 
Douglas,  and  afterwards  with  a  lady  of  the  house  of  Sutherland,  went  into 
the  closest  affinity  with  Scottish  royalty,  beyond  even  what  had  been 
previously.  Stoddart  mentions  that  in  1422  the  lawmen  of  Orkney  granted 
attestation  in  favour  of  James  Craigie,  laird  of  Hope,  husband  of  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Malise,  Earl 
of  Orkney,  Caithness,  and  Stratherne.  But  she  was  Henry's  sister. 
George  Crawford,  in  his  "  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors  of  Scotland," 
published  at  Edinburgh  in  1726,  pays  the  highest  tributes,  in  the  biography 
of  Prince  William,  to  his  action  in  this  legal  office,  which  he  resigned 
in  1458.  His  character  is  suggested  by  the  inscription  he  had  carved  with 
Gothic  characters  over  the  door  of  Roslin  Chapel,  built  by  him  in  1444, 
Forte  est  vinum,  fortlor  est  rex,  fortiores  sunt  mulieres,  super  omnia  vincit 
Veritas — "  Wine  is  strong,  the  king  is  stronger,  women  are  stronger,  truth 
conquers  over  all."  He  is  written  "  Lord  Chancellor  of  Scotland"  in  the 
confirmation  of  the  earldom  of  Caithness  on  29th  April,  1456,  by  James  II., 
"  in  compensation  of  his  claim  and  title  to  the  lordship  of  Nithsdale,  offices, 
and  pensions  ;  "  given  to  Sir  William  Douglas,  son  of  Lord  Galloway,  on  his 
contract  of  marriage  with  Giles  Stuart,  daughter  to  King  Robert  the 
Second  by  Elizabeth  More,  and  sister  to  the  Regent  Albany.  This  is  only 
one  of  many  affinities  of  the  Sinclairs  and  the  Stuarts  ;  the  connections, 
through  the  Grahames,  Douglases,  and  Sparres,  of  both  lineages,  closely 
involved,  with  respect  to  persons  and  estates. 

But  the  purpose  is  more  connected  now  with  the  father,  Prince  Henry, 
than  this  William,  his  son,  Scotland  and  Norway's  most  powerful  subject ; 
though  it  is  of  present  day  use  to  notice  him  as  the  first  recorded  Earl  of 
Caithness  of  his  surname.  The  fair  Egidia  Douglas  had  a  predecessor  as 
wife  of  Henry.  There  is  a  confirmation  by  Egidia,  Countess  of  Orkney, 
Lady  of  Nithsdale,  and  Baroness  of  Herbertshire,  of  a  charter  she  gave  to 
Livingston  of  Callendar,  Stirlingshire,  of  the  lands  of  Catscleugh,  dated  10th 
September,  1425  ;  and  it  has  the  combined  seal  of  herself  and  her  husband 
Henry,  the  original  in  the  Wigton  charter-chest.  The  American  interest 
of  the  seal  displaying  the  heraldic  shield  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  The 
discoverer's  arms  are  on  the  right,  the  double  tressure  indicating  his  affinity 


154  CAITHNESS 

to  royalty,  the  galley  of  Orkney  in  the  centre,  while  the  engrailed  cross  is  the 
original  Sinclair  arms.  The  princess's  arms  are  the  left  half  of  the  shield  ; 
the  lion  of  Galloway,  in  the  lower  quarter,  famous  in  Douglas  blazoning. 
It  was  in  140/,  1/th  September,  that  Archibald,  Earl  of  Douglas,  gave  a 
charter  of  Herbertshire  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  Lord  Sinclair,  the 
discoverer,  to  be  held  by  him  and  his  wife,  "  my  niece  ; "  the  Regent  Albany 
confirming  it  at  Menteith  on  20th  November,  1407,  "the  second  year  of 
our  reign."  If  this  was  her  portion  on  occasion  of  her  marriage,  it  is 
easy  to  understand  how  it  was  that  their  son  William  was  not  actually 
ruling  as  prince  of  Orkney  from  1422  for  more  than  a  decade,  and  how  he 
was  not  installed  till  1434.  His  birth  seems  to  have  been  about  1410  to 
1413,  though  it  may  have  been  earlier. 

On  12th  September,  1410,  at  Roslin,  Prince  Henry  gave  a  charter  to 
his  brother-german,  thus  described  to  distinguish  that  he  was  not  a  half- 
brother,  John,  of  the  lands  of  Sunellis,  Hope,  and  Loganhouse,  near 
Edinburgh,  which  was  ratified  under  the  Great  Seal  in  that  city  by  Regent 
Albany  on  24th  September,  1410.  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  and  a  Lord 
William  Sinclair  signed  a  charter  of  Gogar,  at  Dirleton,  8th  June,  1409, 
which  the  regent  ratified  at  Falkland  Castle,  11th  May,  1411.  Sir  John 
Forrester  of  Corstorphine,  Edinburgh,  to  whom  one  of  Henry's  daughters 
was  married,  had  the  confirmation  about  this  time  of  a  loan  of  300  nobles, 
receiving  12  merks  yearly  from  Dysart  and  coals  till  it  was  repaid,  the  sum 
being  the  equivalent  to  £100  sterling,  but  of  much  more  real  value  then. 
Forrester  is  called  "  our  dearest  cousin  "  in  the  pledge.  At  Edinburgh, 
10th  July,  1424,  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  resigned  Uchtertyre,  Perthshire, 
to  Forrester  of  Corstorphine,  as  the  Register  of  the  Great  Seal  of  Scotland 
records ;  but  this  date  would  make  his  death  later  than  other  sources 
indicate,  and  it  must  be  a  mistake  of  the  printed  copies  of  the  register. 
One  of  Laing's  specimens  in  his  "  Scottish  Seals  "  is  the  seal  of  Henry,  Earl 
of  Orkney,  to  a  charter  in  favour  of  Forrester  of  Corstorphine,  of  date  26th 
November,  1407,  and  the  charter  of  Uchtertyre  must  have  been  also  earlier 
than  1424. 

In  a  procuration  to  the  same  brother  John  dated  Edinburgh,  1411, 
10th   November,  Henry  is  called  Earl  of  Orkney  and  Lord  Sinclair  and 


EVENTS.  155 

Lord  Nithsdale  ;  so  that  the  last  title  came  through  his  wife  after  the 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Herbertshire.  That  he  was  old  in  1411,  this 
deputing  or  procurator?  of  his  business  to  his  "  very  dear  brother-german," 
the  skilful  John,  son-in-law  to  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  brother-in-law  to 
Hagen,  the  King  of  Norway,  may  be  an  indication.  An  amnesty  document 
between  Henry  and  his  relative  Malise  Sparre,  in  1387,  on  8th  November, 
signed  at  Edinburgh,  describes  him  then  as  Earl  of  Orkney  and  Lord  of 
Roslin  ;  so  that  the  Douglas  marriage  was  certainly  subsequent  to  that 
date. 

By  the  "  Book  of  Cowper  "  a  William  died  in  1422,  the  same  year  in 
which  Prince  Henry's  death  took  place  ;  and  the  inference  is  that  they  were 
father  and  son.  Henry  had  a  son  Lord  William  mentioned  in  the  Gogar 
charter  above  of  1409  by  his  first  marriage,  as  he  had  Prince  William  by 
his  Douglas  wife.  The  first  William  dying  by  disease  in  1422,  opened  the 
succession  to  his  half-brother  William,  then  a  boy  of  perhaps  eleven.  Nor 
is  this  mere  inference,  which  is  always  dangerous  in  historical  fields. 
Father  Hay  says  that  it  is  certain  that  Henry  was  "  sent  ambassador  to 
Copenhagen,  Denmark,  in  1363,  where  there  was  a  marriage  celebrated 
between  Margaret,  daughter  to  Waldemar,  King  of  Denmark,  and  Hagen, 
King  of  Norway."  About  the  same  time  he  had  a  confirmation  of  the 
lands  of  Orkney  ;  no  doubt,  when  he  came  of  age,  or  soon  after.  His 
procurators  had  to  receive  it,  as  he  was  himself  too  ill  to  go  to  Norway  for 
the  purpose. 

We  gather  from  these  dates  that  the  discoverer  was  born  about  1340 
and  died  in  1422,  so  that  he  reached  longevity  of  more  than  eighty  years,  a 
family  characteristic.  But  in  a  genealogy  of  the  Stuarts  published  in  the 
end  of  the  last  century  written  by  Andrew  Stuart,  M.P.,  there  is  a 
dispensation  extracted  from  the  records  in  the  Vatican,  Rome,  which 
would  make  Henry's  death  earlier.  It  was  given  by  Pope  Martin  V.,  the 
year  after  accession,  on  the  3rd  of  the  Kalends  of  April,  1418,  to  Egidia 
Douglas,  widow  of  Sir  Henry  Sinclair,  and  to  Alexander  Stuart,  who  could 
not  marry  without  it,  being  in  second  and  third  degrees  of  affinity,  the 
marriage  to  quiet  family  rancours.  This  would  make  1417  the  probable 
date  of  the  discoverer's  death,  at  the  latest,  if  the  dispensation  was  copied 


156  CAITHNESS 

correctly.  A  similar  dispensation  from  Innocent  VI.,  at  Avignon,  the  year 
after  bis  appointment,  was  given  in  1353  to  Thomas  Stuart,  Earl  of  Angus, 
and  Margaret  Sinclair,  "  a  noble  lady,"  of  the  Roslin  family  so  much 
interknit  with  the  royal  Stuarts.  This  Earl  of  Angus  took  Berwick  from 
the  English,  see  Buchanan,  page  259,  before  the  Stuarts  were  kings. 

On  Prince  Henry's  installation  "  there  was  a  marriage  concluded 
between  the  Earl  and  King  Hagen's  sister,  who  was  daughter  to  Magnus, 
King  of  Sweden  and  Norway."  We  know,  therefore,  the  first  wife  of  the 
discoverer  of  America  ;  and  it  is  a  safe  conclusion  that  through  her  the 
Roslins  became  Dukes  of  Oldenburg,  then  belonging  to  Denmark,  the  duchy 
her  marriage  portion.  She  is  named  Florentia  in  various  books ;  and  had, 
it  would  seem,  an  only  son,  the  Lord  William  who  died  the  same  year  as 
his  father,  but  several  daughters,  who  married  into  the  Scotch  and 
Scandinavian  nobility. 

VI. 

Queen  Margaret  of  Norway's  son,  by  Wartislaus,  Duke  of  Pomerania, 
was  proclaimed  nearest  heir  to  the  crown  of  Norway  in  1388  by  Prince 
Henry,  as  already  said  ;  but  Pontan,  "  a  most  accurate  writer  of  Danish 
affairs,"  gives  numerous  details  in  addition  about  the  letters  by  the  arch- 
bishop, bishops,  and  nobles  of  that  kingdom,  backing  up  Henry's  official 
declaration,  sent  everywhere  for  authenticating  Eric's  standing,  according 
to  the  Norwegian  laws. 

Pontan  also  records  the  circumstances  of  Henry's  installation  in  1379 
over  the  Orkneys.  About  the  third  of  the  Ides  of  June,  there  came  to 
King  Hagen  of  Norway,  William  Dalziel,  Malise  Sparre,  and  Alexander 
Ard,  as  commissioners  from  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  with  cautionry  as  client 
for  the  islands  of  that  principality,  according  to  feudal  custom.  A  writ 
which  wTas  finished  at  Malstrand  about  Prince  Henry,  had  been  altered 
before  being  signed  by  the  Scotch  earls  and  barons  ;  and  King  Hagen 
refused  to  sanction  it  at  first ;  but  when  the  commissioners  had  stayed  some 
time  at  Tesberge  city  in  Norway,  the  king  after  fresh  changes  ratified  the 
agreement.  The  commissioners  promised  1000  golden  nobles,  coins  worth 
6s.  8d.  sterling  each,  as,  apparently,  an  annual  gift  of  complacency  on 
Henry's  part. 


EVENTS.  157 

The  document  is  in  full  in  Torfoeus's  "  Orcades,"  and,  translated 
from  Latin,  will  follow  after  this  from  him,  "  In  the  year  1369,  Count 
Henry  Sinclair  was  by  fiduciary  right  set  over  the  Orknsys.  He,  sending 
ambassadors  to  King  Hacon  in  the  Ides  of  June,  demanded  the  administra- 
tion of  the  fee  to  be  confirmed  to  him,  which  under  fixed  conditions  he 
obtained  in  1370."  For  some  unknown  reason  of  rebellion  or  wars,  he  was 
supplanted  in  1375  by  his  relative  Alexander  Ard,  who  had  also  descent 
from  Sparres  or  Spiers,  the  Scotch  favourite  or  minion,  and  the  former 
prince  ;  but  in  1379,  King  Hacon  established  Henry  over  the  Orkneys, 
renewed  his  title  of  count,  gave  and  received  mutual  letters  of  elaborate 
extent,  and  accepted  the  oath  of  fealty  or  homage  in  the  usual  manner. 
The  translation  of  Prince  Henry's  obligation  or  agreement  is  : — 

"  To  all  who  shall  see  or  hear  the  present  letters  Henry,  Earl  of  the  Orkneys, 
Lord  of  Roslin,  wishes  salvation  in  the  Lord.  Because  the  very  serene  prince 
in  Christ,  my  most  clement  lord,  Haquin,  by  the  grace  of  G-od  the  king  of  the 
kingdoms  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  has  set  us  by  his  favour  over  the  Orcadian 
lands  and  islands,  and  has  raised  us  into  the  rank  of  jarl  over  the  beforesaid 
lands  and  islands,  and  since  this  is  required  by  the  dignity,  we  make  well  known 
to  all,  as  well  to  posterity  as  to  contemporaries,  that  we  have  made  homage  of 
fidelity  to  our  lord  the  king  himself,  at  the  kiss  of  his  hand  and  month,  and 
have  given  to  him  a  true  and  due  oath  of  fidelity,  as  far  as  counsels  and  aids  to 
our  same  lord  the  king,  his  heirs,  and  successors,  and  to  his  kingdom  of  Norway, 
must  be  observed.  And  so,  let  it  be  open  to  all  that  we  and  our  friends,  whose 
names  are  expressed  lower,  have  firmly  promised  in  faith  and  with  our  honour 
to  our  same  lord  the  king,  and  to  his  men  and  councillors,  that  we  must  faith- 
fully fulfil  all  agreements,  conditions,  promises,  and  articles  which  are  contained 
in  the  present  letters  to  our  beforesaid  lord  the  king,  his  heirs,  and  successors, 
and  to  his  kingdom  of  Norway. 

"In  the  first  place,  therefore,  we  firmly  oblige  us  to  serve  our  lord  the  king 
outside  of  the  lands  and  islands  of  the  Orkneys,  with  100  good  men  or  more, 
equipped  in  complete  arms,  for  the  conveniences  and  use  of  our  same  lord  the 
king,  whenever  we  shall  have  been  sufficiently  requisitioned  by  his  messengers 
or  his  letters,  and  forewarned  within  Orkney  three  months.  But  when  the  men 
shall  have  arrived  in  the  presence  of  our  lord  the  king,  from  that  time  he  will 
provide  about  victuals  for  us  and  ours. 

"Again,  if  any  may  wish  to  attack  or  hostilely  to  invade,  in  manner  what- 
soever, the  lands  and  islands  of  the  Orkneys,  or  the  land  of  Zetland,  then  we 
promise  and  oblige  us  to  defend  the  lands  named,  with  men  whom  we  may  be 
able  to  collect  in  good  condition  for  this  solely,  from  the  lands  and  islands 
themselves,  yea,  with  all  the  force  of  relatives,  friends,  and  servants. 


158  CAITHNESS 

"  Also,  if  it  shall  be  necessary  that  our  lord  the  king  attack  any  lands  or 
any  kingdoms,  by  right  or  from  any  other  reason  or  necessity,  then  we  shall  be 
to  him  in  help  and  service  with  all  our  force. 

"  Moreover,  we  promise  in  good  faith  that  we  must  not  build  or  construct 
castles  or  any  fortifications  within  the  lands  and  islands  beforesaid,  unless  we 
shall  have  obtained  the  favour,  good-pleasure,  and  consent  of  our  same  lord  the 
king. 

"  "We  also  shall  be  bound  to  hold  and  to  cherish  the  said  lands  and  islands 
of  the  Orkneys,  and  all  their  inhabitants,  clergymen  and  laity,  rich  and  poor, 
in  their  rights. 

"  Further,  we  promise  in  good  faith  that  we  must  not  at  any  time  sell  or 
alienate  that  beforesaid  county  and  that  lordship,  whether  lands  or  islands, 
belonging  to  the  earldom,  or  our  right  which  we  obtain  now  to  the  earldom,  the 
lands,  and  islands,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  of  the  king  our  lord,  from  our  lord 
the  king  himself,  or  his  heirs,  and  successors,  or  from  the  kingdom,  nor  to  deliver 
these  or  any  of  these  for  surety  and  for  pledge  to  any  one,  or  to  expose  them 
otherwise,  against  the  will  and  good-pleasure  of  him  and  his  successors. 

"In  addition,  if  it  happen  that  our  lord  the  king,  his  heirs,  or  successors 
wish  to  approach  those  lands  and  islands  for  their  defence,  or  from  other  reason- 
able cause,  or  to  direct  thither  his  councillors  or  men,  then  we  shall  be  held 
to  be  for  help  to  our  same  lord  the  king,  and  his  heirs,  to  his  councillors  and 
men,  with  all  our  force,  and  to  minister  to  our  lord  the  king,  and  his  heirs,  his 
men  and  councillors,  those  things  of  which  they  may  be  in  need  for  their  due 
expenses,  and  as  necessity  then  requires,  at  least  to  ordain  so  from  the  lands 
and  islands. 

'■  Moreover,  we  promise  that  we  must  begin  or  rouse  no  wTar,  law  suit,  or 
dissension  with  any  strangers  or  natives,  by  reason  of  which  war,  law  suit,  or 
dissension  the  king  my  lord,  his  heirs,  or  successors,  or  their  kingdom  of  Nor- 
way, or  the  beforesaid  lands  and  islands,  may  receive  any  damage. 

"  Again,  if  it  happen,  but  may  this  be  absent,  that  we  notably  and  unjustly 
do  wrong  against  any  within  the  beforesaid  lands  and  islands,  or  inflict  some 
notable  injury  upon  any  one,  as  the  loss  of  life,  or  mutilation  of  limbs,  or  depre- 
dation of  goods,  then  we  shall  answer  to  the  pursuer  of  a  cause  of  that  kind  in 
the  presence  of  our  lord  the  king  himself  and  his  councillors,  and  satisfy  for  the 
wrongs  according  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom. 

"  Also,  whensoever  our  lord  the  king  shall  have  summoned  us,  on  account 
of  any  causes,  to  his  presence,  where  and  when  he  shall  have  wished  to  hold  his 
general  assembly,  then  we  are  bound  to  go  to  him,  to  give  him  advice  and 
assistance. 

"  Further,  we  promise  that  we  shall  not  break  the  truces  and  security  of 
our  same  lord  the  king,  nor  his  peace,  which  he  shall  have  made  or  confirmed 
with  foreigners  or  natives,  or  with  whomsoever  others,  in  any  manner  whatever, 
to  violate  them,  nay,  defend  them  all  as  far  as  our  strength,  and  hold  those  as 


EVENTS.  159 

federated  to  us  whom  the  king  of  Norway  himself,  our  lord,  may  wish  to  treat 
as  his  favourers  and  friends. 

"  We  promise  also  that  we  must  make  no  league  with  the  Orcadian  bishop, 
nor  enter  into  or  establish  any  friendship  with  him,  unless  from  the  good- 
pleasure  and  consent  of  our  lord  the  king  himself ;  but  we  must  be  for  help  to 
him  against  that  bishop,  until  he  shall  have  done  to  him  what  is  of  right,  or 
shall  be  bound  to  do  so  for  that  special  reason,  upon  those  things  in  which  my 
lord  the  king  may  wish  or  be  able  reasonably  to  accuse  that  bishop. 

"  Besides,  when  God  may  have  willed  to  call  us  from  life,  then  that  earl- 
dom and  that  lordship,  with  the  lands  and  islands,  and  with  all  the  jurisdiction, 
must  return  to  our  lord  the  king,  his  heirs  and  successors  freely ;  and  if  we 
shall  have  children  after  us,  procreated  from  our  body,  male,  one  or  more,  then 
he  of  them  who  shall  claim  the  above  said  earldom  and  lordship  must  demand, 
with  regard  to  this,  the  favour,  good-pleasure,  and  consent  of  our  lord  the  king 
himself,  his  heirs,  and  successors. 

"  Further,  we  promise  in  good  faith  that  we  shall  be  bound  to  pay  to  our 
abovesaid  lord  the  king,  or  to  his  official  at  Tunisberg,  on  the  next  festival  of 
St.  Martin  the  bishop  and  confessor,  a  thousand  golden  pieces,  which  are  called 
nobles,  of  English  money,  in  which  we  acknowledge  us  to  be  bound  to  him  by 
just  payment. 

"  Also,  we  promise,  because  we  have  been  now  promoted  to  the  earldom 
and  lordship  oftensaid  by  our  lord  the  king  himself,  that  our  cousin  Malise  Sparre 
must  cease  from  his  claim  and  dismiss  altogether  his  right,  if  it  be  discernible 
that  he  has  any,  to  those  lands  and  islands ;  so  that  my  lord  the  king,  his 
heirs,  and  successors  shall  sustain  no  vexation  or  trouble  from  him  or  from  his 
heirs. 

"Again,  if  we  have  made  any  agreement  or  any  understanding  with  our 
cousin  Alexander  Ard,  or  have  wished  to  enter  into  any  treaty  with  him,  in  that 
case  we  will  do  similarly  on  our  part  and  on  the  part  of  the  king  my  lord  to 
whatever  was  done  in  precaution  about  Malise  Sparre. 

"  Further,  we,  Henry,  earl  abovesaid,  and  our  friends  and  relatives  within- 
written,  namely,  Simon  Rodde,  William  Daniels,  knights,  Malise  Sparre,  William 
Chrichton,  David  Chrichton,  Adam  Byketon,  Thomas  Ben  nine,  and  Andrew 
Haldaniston,  armsbearers,  conjunctly  promise  in  good  faith  to  our  oftensaid  lord 
the  king,  Haquin,  and  to  his  first-born  lord  the  king,  Olaf,  and  to  his  councillors 
and  men  within-writton,  namely,  to  the  lords  Siguard,  HafFthorsen,  Ogmund 
Findersen,  Eric  Ketelsen,  Nar^o  Ingualdisen,  John  Oddosen,  Ulpho  Johnsen, 
Ginther  de  Vedhonsen  ;  John  Danisen,  Haquin  Evidassen,  knights  of  the  same 
lord  the  king ;  Haquin  Jonssen,  Alver  Hardlssen,  Hantho  Ericsen,  Erlend  Phil- 
lippsen,  and  Otho  Remer,  armsbearers ;  and  for  this,  under  preservation  of  our 
honour,  we  bind  ourselves  and  each  of  us  in  a  body  to  the  aforesaid  lords,  that 
we  must  truly  and  firmly  fulfil  all  the  agreements  and  conditions  and  articles 
which  are  expressed  above  to  our  lord  the  king,  within  the  above-written  feast 


160  CAITHNESS 

of  St.  Martin  the  bishop  and  confessor,  so  far  as  one  particular  business  was 
declared  by  itself  above. 

"  That  all  these  things  now  promised  may  have  the  greater  strength  for 
this,  and  may  be  fulfilled  the  sooner,  we,  the  aforesaid  Henry,  Earl  of  the 
Orkneys,  place  and  leave  behind  us  our  cousins  and  friends  Lord  William 
Daniels,  knight,  Malise  Sperre,  David  Chrichton,  and  the  lawful  son  of  the 
said  Simon,  by  name  Lord  Alexander,  here  in  the  kingdom  hostages.  Upon 
their  faith  they  oblige  and  promise  themselves  to  this,  that  from  our  lord  the  king 
of  Norway,  or  from  that  place  in  which  he  shall  have  wished  to  have  them 
within  his  kingdom  of  Norway,  they  in  nowise  may  go  away,  publicly  or 
secretly,  before  all  the  abovesaid  things  be  totally  fulfilled  with  entire  integrity 
to  our  lord  the  king ;  and  particularly  and  specially,  the  conditions  and  articles 
for  whose  observation  the  within-written  reverend  fathers,  bishops,  and  prelates 
of  the  churches  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  and  the  other  nobles  within-written 
of  the  same  kingdom,  Lord  William,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  ;  Lord  Walter,  Bishop 
of  Glasgow  ;  Lord  William,  Earl  of  Douglas ;  Lord  George,  Earl  of  March ;  Lord 
Patrick  Hepburn,  Lord  Alexander  Haliburton,  Lord  George  Abernethy,  Lord 
William  Ramsay,  knights,  must  promise  in  good  faith,  and  upon  this  remit  their 
open  letters  to  our  same  king  the  lord,  with  their  true  seals,  in  the  before-noted 
time,  as  in  our  other  letters  written  upon  this  is  declared  more  fully. 

"  Also,  we  promise  in  good  faith  that  we  must  assume  in  no  direction  to 
us  the  lands  of  our  lord  the  king,  or  any  other  rights  of  his  which  his  progeni- 
tors and  the  king  our  lord  are  known  to  have  reserved  to  themselves ;  and 
concerning  those  lands  or  jurisdictions  not  to  intromit  in  any  manner  whatso- 
ever. They  have  reserved  those  laws,  indeed,  and  those  pleas  within  the 
Orcadian  earldom,  as  is  before  said,  and  the  lands  and  pleas  of  that  kind  will 
remain  in  all  cases  safe  for  them  ;  but  if,  upon  this,  we  shall  have  his  special 
letters,  then  wre  ought  to  be  specially  bound  thereafter  to  our  same  lord  the  king. 

"  Besides,  but  may  it  be  absent,  if  all  those  abovesaid  things  shall  not 
have  been  brought  to  conclusion,  and  totally  fulfilled  to  the  same  my  lord  the 
king  as  it  has  been  expressed  above,  or  if  we  should  have  attempted  anything  in 
the  contrary  of  any  of  the  premises,  then  the  promotion  and  favour  which  we 
have  experienced  from  the  king  our  lord,  and  of  his  grace,  ought  to  be  of  no 
strength  ;  yea,  the  promotion  and  favour  of  that  kind  done  to  us  must  be  broken 
down  altogether,  and  in  their  forces  be  totally  empty  and  inane,  so  that  we  and 
our  heirs  for  the  rest  shall  have  no  right  of  speaking  for  the  beforesaid  county 
or  for  the  lands  or  beforesaid  islands,  or  we  of  acting  about  those  lands  and 
islands  in  any  way  whatsoever,  that  it  may  be  manifest  to  all  that  the  pro- 
motion and  grace  of  this  kind  was  given  by  no  force  of  law  or  justice. 

"  And  so  we  append  our  seal,  together  with  the  seals  of  our  said  friends,  to 
our  present  letters,  in  testimony  and  the  firmer  evidence  of  all  the  premises. 

"  These  things  were  done  at  Marstrand,  in  the  yeai  of  the  Lord  1379,  the 
2nd  day  of  August." 


EVENTS.  1G1 

There  is  the  other  obligation  given  at  St.  Andrews,  Scotland,  on  1st 
September,  13/9,  by  Henricus  de  Sancto  Claro,  Comes  Orchadiae, 
Dominus  de  Rodin  in  Scotia,  to  use  the  Latin,  not  to  mortgage  the 
earldom  of  Orkney  without  King  Haquin's  consent,  practically  of  the  same 
tenor  as  one  of  the  clauses  in  the  document  above  translated.  It  was 
signed  and  sealed  by  the  same  persons,  with  the  addition  of  Sir  Walter 
Haliburton,  Sir  John  Edmonston,  Sir  Robert  Dalyell,  Sir  John  Thumbce. 
These  deeds  were  not  of  installation  ;  for  Prince  Henry  had  at  least  sixteen 
years  previously  come  to  age  and  occupancy.  They  are  of  the  nature  of  a 
fresh  feudal  confirmation  by  the  sovereign  of  Norway,  on  occasion  of 
accession  to  his  crown,  or  quelled  disputing  about  the  right  to  Orkney  and 
Shetland  ;  the  fixing  of  a  tribute  of  1000  gold  nobles  upon  Henry  sug- 
gesting the  latter  alternative.     The  following  is  the  text  from  Torfaeus : — 

"  Henry  Sinclair,  Earl  of  Orkney,  Lord  of  Roslin  in  Scotland,  salvation  in 
the  Saviour  of  all.  We  make  well  known  to  your  entirety,  by  the  presents,  that 
we  have  promised  in  good  faith,  and  by  the  tenor  of  the  presents  we  promise 
with  all  fidelity,  to  our  most  excellent  prince  and  lord  the  lord  Haquin,  the 
illustrious  King  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  that  we  will  alienate,  pledge,  or  deliver 
as  surety  on  no  account  the  lands  or  islands  of  the  count)'  of  Orkney,  or  the 
crown  possessions  of  the  kingdom  itself,  from  our  beforesaid  lord  the  king,  his 
successors,  or  from  the  kingdom,  without  the  consent  of  our  lord  the  king  above- 
said,  his  heirs,  or  successors,  and  that  we  shall  observe  faithfully  all  the  premises. 

"The  venerable  lords  and  fathers  in  Christ,  Lords  William  and  Walter, 
Bishops  of  St.  Andrews  and  Glasgow  ;  William  and  George,  Earls  of  Douglas  and 
March  ;  William  Ramsay,  Walter  Haliburton,  George  Abernethy,  Patrick  Hep- 
burn, John  Edmonston,  Alexander  Haliburton,  John  Thumbce,  Robert  Dalzell, 
barons  and  knights,  also  have  promised. 

"  In  testimony  of  all  which  things  our  seal  was  appended,  and  we  have 
procured  to  be  appended  to  the  presents  the  seals  of  the  said  bishops,  counts, 
barons,  and  knights. 

"  Given  at  St.  Andrews  on  the  first  day  of  the  month  of  September,  1379." 

VII. 

Through  the  Sparre  and  Grahame  heiresses,  the  four  earldoms  of 
Caithness,  Orkney,  Stratherne,  and  Menteith  had  gone  to  the  Rosses,  the 
Sinclairs,  the  Grahames,  and  the  royal  Stuarts,  creating  the  most  involved 
rivalries  between  these  close  kinsfolk.     In   1373,  six  years  before  Prince 


162  CAITHNESS 

Henry  signed  his  Orkney  homage  document  to  King  Haquin  of  Norway, 
David  Stuart,  the  son  of  Robert  II.  by  his  queen  Euphemia  Ross,  Earl  of 
Stratherne,  became  Earl  of  Caithness,  with  Braal  Castle  the  head  messuage. 
His  mother  was  heiress  of  the  Earls  of  Ross,  who  had  had  Caithness 
earldom  through  marrying  a  Grahame  heiress,  sister  of  Prince  Henry's 
mother.  David's  brother,  Walter,  Earl  of  Athole,  became  also  Earl  of 
Caithness,  whose  son  Allan  was  the  last  of  the  royal  Stuart  Earls  of 
Caithness,  and  slain  in  battle  in  1426  after  two  years'  possession.  The 
very  heart  and  knot  of  British  history  are  to  be  found  in  these  extraordinary 
relationships.  The  Caithness  Stuarts  were  the  lawful  line  of  Robert  II.  ; 
but  he  dispossessed  them,  by  parliamentary  resolution,  in  favour  of  his 
reputed  bastard  children  by  his  concubine,  Elizabeth  More.  Their 
indignation  and  that  of  their  relatives,  the  Grahames,  culminated  in  the 
murder  of  James  the  First  of  Scotland  in  1437,  at  Perth  ;  Walter  Stuart 
and  Sir  Robert  Grahame  executed,  with  tortures,  for  their  violent  form  of 
trying  to  vindicate  justice  to  the  lawful  heirs  of  the  throne.  By  the 
common  law  of  Britain,  all  the  reigning  royal  Stuarts,  except  Robert  the 
Second,  who  began  the  dynasty,  were  and  are  illegitimate  ;  the  ruler  of  the 
British  empire  holding  office  on  this  sandy  descent  foundation,  if  use  and 
wont  or  accomplished  fact,  as  history  exemplifies  largely,  be  not  enough 
for  establishing  regal  possession.  In  the  time  of  Prince  Henry  the 
controversy  between  the  lawful  and  unlawful  or  semi-lawful  Stuarts  had 
not  reached  the  acute  stage  ;  but  all  the  tragic  elements  were  at  work  ;  the 
Douglas  higher  rights  to  the  crown,  through  heiring  the  Comyns,  who 
claimed  fairly  to  come  before  the  Bruce  kings,  by  whom  the  Stuarts 
inherited,  still  further  complicating  the  problem  of  the  notoriously 
unfortunate  and,  it  is  all  but  assured,  false  dynasty  which  has  played  so 
extraordinary  a  part  in  Scotch,  English,  and  Irish  history.  Through  the 
Earl  of  Ross's  connection  with  the  Sinclairs,  by  the  Grahame  and  Sparre 
heiresses,  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  might  be  expected  to  favour  Queen 
Euphemia  Ross's  Stuart  children  and  descendants,  certainly  a  lawful  line  ; 
but  canonical  and  civil  law  making  the  concubine's  children  legitimate 
through  a  subsequent  marriage  to  King  Robert  II.,  if  it  occurred,  and  the 
eldest  of  them,  afterwards  Robert  III.,  having  been  declared  by  parliament 


EVENTS.  163 

to  be  crown-prince,  the  important  men  of  the  kingdom  could  not  help 
themselves,  least  of  all  Henry,  who  was  hereditary  guardian  of  the  heirs  to 
the  throne.  Though  the  best  material  as  to  spirit  and  body,  young  Prince 
James  Stuart  must  have  seemed  in  Kirkwall  Castle  a  doubtful  falcon  to 
train,  the  son  of  a  "  light-of-love  "  beauty.  His  tragic  death  is  no  wonder 
at  all  to  those  able  to  see  into  the  seething  caldron  of  rivalries  and 
injustices  about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  and  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century  in  Scotland.     For  the  law  consult  the  Majcstatem,  II.,  51. 

But  to  come  to  Henry's  own  immediate  difficulties.  It  is  clear  that 
both  Ard  and  a  collateral  or  illegitimate  representative  of  the  Sparres  from 
whom  Orkney  came  to  the  Sinclairs,  had  designs  upon  his  principality,  his 
"  cousins  "  of  the  document  translated  above.  The  Ards  had  wide  lands  in 
Inverness-shire  and  other  counties  of  Scotland,  through  marriage  to  one  of 
the  heiresses  so  often,  but  not  too  often,  mentioned,  considering  their 
unusual  importance ;  and  in  the  national  records  Ards  are  principal  persons. 
They,  however,  died  out,  and  only  the  Sparres,  originally  of  southern 
Scotland,  were  troublers  of  Henry's  position,  probably  contending  that  the 
fee  ought  to  have  gone  to  the  males  of  the  Sparre  family,  though  feudalism 
freely  parted  estates  among  females  in  all  parts  of  Europe.  But  there  may 
have  been  a  special  enactment  as  to  males,  or  a  variation  in  Norse  tenures, 
from  need  of  leaders  in  war,  as  it  was  in  the  bastard  Celtic  feudalism  of 
West  Scotland  and  Ireland.  At  all  events,  Torfaeus  shows  that  matters 
came  to  violence  between  Sinclair  and  a  false  or  true  rival  from  the  Sparre  or 
Spier  family  : — "  In  the  year  1391,  the  Earl  of  Orkney  slew  Malise  Sparre, 
in  Zetland,  with  seven  others.  A  young  man,  however,  with  six  followers, 
having  found  a  ship,  escaped  by  flight  to  Norway."  By  the  Register  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  Scotland,  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  gave  to  Sir  David,  his 
half-brother,  for  his  rights  in  Orkney  and  Shetland,  through  his  mother 
Isabella,  all  the  lands  of  Newburgh  and  Auchdale,  Aberdeenshire,  the 
charter  dated  Kirkwall,  23rd  April,  1391,  the  properties  to  return  to  Henry 
if  David  died  childless,  Robert  III.  ratifying  it  at  Rothesay  Castle,  10th 
June,  1392.  It  is  evident  that  the  prince  was  consolidating  his  power  in 
the  Orkneys  against  all  comers,  probably  the  Sparre  disorder  going  on  at 
the  very  moment  of  the  grant  or  exchange.     That  the  slaughter  of  his 


164  CAITHNESS 

ambitious  cousin  was  no  hasty  or  tyrannical  proceeding  on  Prince  Henry's 
part,  is  proved  by  the  following  : — 

"  Amends  of  Malise  Sparre  made  to  Henri/,  Earl  of  Orkney: — To  all  to  whose 
knowledge  the  present  letters  shall  have  arrived  Malise  Sper,  Lord  of  Skuldale, 
salvation  in  the  Saviour  of  all.  Let  your  entirety  know  that  I  have  made,  in 
the  presence  of  a  magnificent  lord,  James,  Earl  of  Douglas,  firm  friendship  with 
Henry  Sinclair,  Earl  of  Orkney  and  Baron  of  Roslin,  and  have  condoned  and 
remitted  finally  all  actions  of  injuries  and  offences,  by  him,  his  men,  or 
whomsoever  in  his  name,  to  my  men,  lands,  and  possessions  whatsoever,  and  as 
to  his  universal  goods,  acquired  by  him  or  his.  Further,  I  firmly  promise  to 
restore,  pay,  and  satisfy,  with  my  men  whomsoever,  concerning  all  injuries, 
offences,  and  things  acquired,  as  to  the  beforesaid  Lord  Earl,  or  whomsoever  in 
his  name,  up  to  the  present  day,  with  lands  and  possessions  excepted,  if  there 
are  any  to  which  my  men  have  the  right  of  claiming  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  country.  In  testimony  of  this  transaction,  my  seal  was  appended  to  the 
presents  at  Edinburgh,  18th  November,  1387." 

The  treaty  did  not  last  long ;  for  four  years  later  the  struggle  between 
the  cousins  ended  in  Sparre's  death,  after  a  period  of  open  war  and  blood- 
shed, and  also  rebellion;  the  last,  because  Prince  Henry  had  investiture  by 
the  Norwegian  crown  in  13/9,  Malise  Sparre  himself  one  of  the  principal 
persons  at  the  installation,  and  waiving  all  rights. 

vm. 

While  thus  effectually  quelling  the  Sparre  insurrection  with  thirteen 
war-vessels,  Prince  Henry  met  at  the  Faroe  Isles  Sir  Nicolas  Zeno,  the 
Venetian  navigating  noble,  who  had  suffered  shipwreck  there.  It  was  in 
1390  that  Sir  Nicolas  passed  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  on  the  way 
to  the  northern  seas  for  discovery,  according  to  the  analysis  by  Major,  the 
American  admirer  of  Prince  Zichmni  and  the  celebrated  Zenoes.  Carlo  of 
them  was  grand  admiral  of  Venice,  the  ambassador  to  England,  and  died 
8th  May,  1418  ;  Raniero  was  doge  of  Venice,  dying  in  1268  ;  Caterino 
went  ambassador  to  Persia  in  14/2  ;  James  was  an  Italian  orator  (1417-81), 
and  another  of  the  Zeno  lineage  was  Nicholas,  junior,  the  biographer  of 
Prince  Henry's  two  brother  admirals,  he  born  in  1515,  and  dying  10th 
August,  1505,  to  whom  Americans  owe  the  earliest  civilised  chapter  of  their 
history.     Bancroft  gives  only  his  first  page  to  the  Norse  discoverers  (not 


EVENTS.  165 

mentioning  Prince  Henry  and  the  Zenoes  at  all,  Columbus  getting  his  whole 
enthusiasm)  in  the  "  History  of  the  United  States ; "  the  Scandinavians 
scantily  credited,  though  Humboldt  in  his  "Cosmos,"  Malte  -  Brun  the 
great  geographer,  Rafn,  and  a  world  of  other  authorities  accepted  the  early 
voyages  and  discoveries.  Torfaeus's  "Vinlandia  Antiqua,"  published  at 
Hafn  in  1705,  of  itself  puts  the  question  out  of  the  region  of  probabilities, 
Vinland  being  Boston  "  and  all  around  it."  The  ninth  edition  of  the 
"Encyclopaedia  Britannica"  receives  the  Norse  rovers  as  historic  verities. 
Sir  Antonio  Zeno  arrived  at  the  Orkneys  in  1391,  and  assisted  his  brother 
Sir  Nicholas,  who  wras  admiral  of  Prince  Henry's  fleet,  "in  taking  pos- 
session of  Zetland  islands,"  clearly  the  Sparre  attempt  put  down.  So 
notable  because  undesigned  an  agreement  of  Torfaeus  with  the  "  Lives  "  of 
the  Zsno  brothers,  attests  the  veracity  of  the  biographical  work,  which  is 
now  beyond  criticism,  though  from  Pinkerton  in  his  "  History  of  Scotland," 
1797,  till  of  late,  it  had  to  stand  a  considerably  hostile  and,  because  of 
prevailing  ignorance,  misdirected  fire  of  objections. 

The  Am3rican  expeditions  followed  the  Zetland  subjugation  ;  and  it  is 
a  hopeful  statement  for  the  De  Sancto  Claro  Society  to  investigate,  that 
from  the  time  when  Prince  Henry  first  annexed  America  to  his  principality 
(for  such  is  the  technicality  of  the  proceeding),  that  continent  never  lost 
white  representatives  to  this  day.  Norse  and  Scotch  were  hardly  the  kind 
of  people  to  neglect  the  possession  of  lands,  not  to  say  kingdoms  ;  and  there 
is  no  proof  that  they  did  not,  again  and  again,  plant  colonists  whose 
descendants  are  now  in  New  England  and  on  other  parts  of  the  Atlantic 
shore.  White  men  would  have  thus  been  continuous  in  America  from  the 
ninth  century  till  now,  a  most  interesting  problem  to  authenticate.  It  is 
true  that  Prince  Henry,  according  to  the  Zeno  biography,  gave  up  at  one 
time  a  colony  there  ;  but  the  book  does  not  come  to  the  close  of  his 
life  ;  and  he  and  his  great-hearted  son,  Prince  William  of  Orkney,  Lord 
Nithsclale,  Baron  of  Roslin,  and  the  first  recorded  Earl  of  Caithness  of  his 
surname,  were  not  the  men  to  be  baulked  of  their  high  objects.  A  land 
without  limit  like  America,  would  appeal  to  their  heroic  persistency  ;  and  it 
is  almost  assured  that  they  repeated  again  and  again  their  occupation  of  the 
continent.     Evervone    knows    of  the    traditional    rumours    that   Christian 


1GG  CAITHNESS 

bishops  were  among  the  Red  Indians,  some  ascribing  their  advent  to  Ire- 
land, some  to  Wales,  whose  Celtic  books  are  full  of  a  western  land  beyond 
the  seas  in  much  earlier*  centuries  than  those  of  Prince  Henry  and  Prince 
William.  It  is  most  akin  to  historical  fact  that  the  clerical  and  laic  white 
men  of  Indian  legend,  were  colonists  and  conquerors  from  Scandinavia  and 
Scotland  ;  the  annexing  of  savage  kingdoms  to  the  church  of  the  pope 
being,  especially  in  the  14th  and  15th  centuries,  a  positive  madness  of  the 
brain.  The  Spaniards  led  by  Columbus  thought  more  of  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians  to  Christianity  than  they  did  of  gold,  though  of  this  they  are 
credited  to  have  been  supreme  lovers.  Later,  Mexico  and  Peru  had  to  be 
saved,  and  such  salvation  !  The  former,  it  is  true,  wTas  by  priest-sanc- 
tioned cannibalism  a  pandemonium  of  blood ;  and  Christian  fire  may  have 
purified  that  cookery  horror  off  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  moral  sanitation. 
The  New  England  districts  have  yet  a  tale  to  tell,  of  Europeans,  a  century 
earlier  than  the  Spaniards,  carrying  the  religious  and  material  civilisation 
of  Europe  and  Asia  there  ;  and  it  may  be  provable  that  the  remnant  never 
died  out,  though  the  puritans  of  the  "  May  Flower "  claim  to  have  been 
the  pioneers  of  Yankeeland  or  Englishland.  Englishmen,  at  all  periods, 
have  had  the  useful  trick  of  assuming  too  much  in  their  own  favour ;  and 
the  nonconformists  who  left  old  Plymouth  of  England  to  found  the  new 
Plymouth  of  America,  had  enough  of  this  valuable  quality  of  Emerson's 
self-reliance  about  1620,  when  they  fled  from  Archbishop  Laud's  ecclesias- 
tical tyranny,  to  forget  that  there  were  whites  there  long  before  them. 
Indeed,  the  marvellously  developed  social  condition  of  the  Red  Indians, 
with  their  communal  long  houses,  suggests  Norwegian  and  Scottish  training 
grafted  on  mere  savagery.  Fiske  exhibits  the  Delawares  and  the  rest  of 
the  native  tribes,  or  six  nations  or  more,  in  lights  absolutely  novel  to  those 
with  the  preconceived  ideas  obtained  from  Fenimore  Cooper's  romantic 
novels.  But  enough,  in  so  untrodden  but  not  unpromising  field.  The 
De  Sancto  Claro  Society  has,  however,  inquiries  and  successes  in  this 
direction  also,  as  nothing  has  been  more  striking  than  recent  American 
advance  in  knowledge  of  the  primitive  races ;  scientific  precision  by  and  bye 
perhaps  to  be  able  to  distinguish  external  influences  over  their  highly- 
articulated  popular  life.     Celtic  and  Norse  literature  is  full  of  shadowings 


EVENTS.  167 

of  ancient  intercourse  from  Europe  to  America  ;  and  such  dreamings  nearly 
always,  in  research,  prove  to  be  founded  on  facts  of  some  extent.  The 
want  of  historians  and  the  accidents  of  time  have  blotted  out  many  a 
chapter  of  human  experience,  now  beyond  our  imagination  to  fathom  ;  but 
the  acuteness  of  learning  recovers  wonderful  gold-dust  from  the  river  of  the 
past,  which  becomes  in  due  time  coin  and  currency.  It  is  already  pretty 
certain  that  the  Norse  and  Scotch  heroes  left  a  sprinkling  of  population, 
who  ruled  the  Red  Indians  to  some  extent,  and  amalgamated  with  them. 
The  French  half-breeds  of  Canada  show  how  it  could  have  been  done ;  for 
before  the  "  brave  "  was  taught  the  use  of  gunpowder,  he  was  not  the  cruel 
intractable  creature  with  whom  the  modern  mind  is  familiar.  Who  is  not 
aware  of  the  freedom  with  which  missionaries  went  from  tribe  to  tribe  in 
the  earlier  European  periods  of  America  ?  One  lay  stranger  was  so  beloved 
by  them  that  he  was  called  universally  their  "  father."  He,  Dr.  Patrick 
Sinclair,  was  only  one  of  many,  from  others,  too,  than  the  English  and 
Scotch,  who  experienced  ease  in  guiding  these  so-called  savages ;  the 
French  at  all  times  most  insinuating  and  charming  visitors,  whom  they 
never  tired  of  welcoming,  with  whatever  excess  or  want  of  wisdom. 

IX. 

Torfaeus  quotes  Buchanan,  the  historian  of  Scotland,  that  Prince 
Henry  was  entrusted  with  James,  the  then  eldest  son  of  Robert  the  Third, 
to  take  him  for  safety  and  education  to  France  in  1406,  Hay  saying  1404. 
Consulting  Buchanan,  Torfaeus  seems  to  be  right,  because  the  king  expired 
of  grief  three  days  after  hearing  of  his  only  remaining  son  being  taken  by 
the  English.  He  died  at  Rothesay  on  the  Clyde,  the  tenth  of  the  Kalends 
of  April,  1406  ;  and  the  news  could  not  have  taken  months,  not  to  say  two 
years,  to  arrive.  "In  the  year  1418,"  Torfaeus  writes,  "  John  Sinclair  pro- 
fessed himself,  with  all  Shetland,  the  client  of  King  Eric  Pomeranus ; "  a 
most  interesting  note,  because  this  is  Prince  Henry's  learned  statesman 
brother,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Waldemar,  King  of  Denmark. 
In  his  old  age,  evidently  Prince  Henry  grew  specially  generous,  thus  giving 
the  lordship  of  Shetland  to  his  brother.  Another  brother,  Thomas,  was  the 
mandatory  of  Prince  Henry  to  look  after  the  interests  of  his  son  Prince 


168  CAITHNESS 

William,  a  minor  at  his  father's  death  in  1420;  and  he  took  a  principal 
part  in  ejecting  David  Manners  from  Orkney  and  Shetland,  who  had  secured 
the  prefecture  from  King  Eric,  equivalent  to  a  "gift  of  nonentry,"  in  terms 
of  Scotch  law  about  landed  property.  While  the  heir  was  under  age,  the 
crown  could  traffic  with  the  rents  more  or  less.  But  the  youth's  uncle 
proved  faithful  to  his  mandate,  and  Torfaeus  tells  much  of  Thomas's  ener- 
getic and  skilful  doings.  His  servants  were  beaten  and  imprisoned  by 
Manners,  who  took  the  money  of  returns  belonging  to  his  family  by  force, 
ami  who  oppressed  everybody,  especially  the  supporters  of  the  mandatory ; 
but  he  laughs  best  who  laughs  last;  and  the  tyrannical  intruder  was  driven 
away  from  the  Orkneys  by  popular  indignation.  Torfaeus  details  thirty- 
five  crimes  with  which  he  was  charged  as  a  prefect  during  his  five  years  of 
rule.  Thomas  Sinclair's  seal  was  the  first  appended  to  the  installation 
document  of  Prince  William  in  1434,  when  he  paid  feudal  homage,  after 
the  manner  of  the  Scotch  to  the  English  kings,  to  Eric,  King  of  Norway, 
Denmark,  and  Sweden.  Eric  is  so  designed  in  Bishop  Tulloch's  appoint- 
ment to  succeed  Manners  in  the  prefecture  in  1427,  of  which  document 
Torfaeus  gives  a  copy,  Tulloch  holding  the  diocese  of  the  Orkneys.  Stod- 
dart  says  that  in  1364  a  Thomas  Sinclair  was  ballivus  regis  Norvagiae, 
that  is,  "  bailie  of  the  King  of  Norway,"  in  Orkney  ;  but  if  this  date  is  right, 
there  must  have  been  two  of  the  name,  with  similar  offices. 

In  a  Latin  index  to  an  edition  of  " Rerum  Scoticarum  Historic/,"  by 
George  Buchanan  (1500-82),  published  by  John  Paton,  Edinburgh,  in  1/27, 
at  5s.  6d.,  the  editor,  Robert  Fribarn,  the  following  occurs  : — Sinclarus, 
Sinclair,  St.  Clare,  cognomen  illustris  familiae,  quorum  Principes  olim 
Orcadum  et  Cathanesiae  C o mites ;  'nunc  Sinclariae  Reguli  primi  existi- 
mantur — "  Sinclare,  Sinclair,  St.  Clare,  the  surname  of  an  illustrious  family, 
of  whom  the  heads  were  formerly  the  Princes  of  Orkney  and  the  Earls  of 
Caithness ;  but  now  the  Lords  of  Sinclair  are  thought  the  first."  It  is 
always  the  more  valuable  to  have  such  references  from  others  than  the 
lineage,  like  this  learned  Fribarn ;  because  there  is  no  suspicion  of  partiality 
or  prejudice.  The  Scottish  parliament  passed  an  act  on  26th  January, 
1488-9,  that  Sir  Henry,  the  eldest  son  of  Prince  William,  was  chief  of  that 
blood,  and  was  to  be  called  Lord  Sinclair  thereafter.     His  male  descent 


EVENTS.  169 

died  out  in  John,  the  seventh  lord,  in  1676  ;  and  then  the  Earls  of  Caith- 


l,        VllKJ         WV11V11       1U1U) 


ness  became,  and  still  are,  the  heads  of  the  name.  His  only  daughter 
Catherine  married  John  Sinclair  of  Herdmanston,  Haddingtonshire,  of  a 
very  ancient  baronial  family,  but  of  no  known  male  relationship  to  the 
Roslins.  The  present  peer,  Lord  Sinclair,  is  of  the  Herdmanston  family, 
noted  for  its  ability  and  learning.  It  will  be  remarked,  therefore,  that 
Fribarn  made  a  mistake  in  saying  that  his  contemporary  Lord  Sinclair  was 
the  first  then  of  the  surname,  that  honour  having  passed  to  the  Earl  of 
Caithness  fifty-one  years  before. 

Dr.  James  Wallace  in  his  "  Account  of  the  Islands  of  Orkney,"  pub- 
lished at  London  in  1700,  says  Henry  was  usually  called  the  Prince  of 
Orkney,  and  that  he  was  also  made  Duke  of  Oldenburg  by  Christian  I.  of 
Denmark,  thus  doubly  prince.     See  chapter  I.  infra. 

In  John  Entick's  "Present  State  of  the  British  Empire,"  which 
description  included  the  United  States  as  British  colonies,  the  book  pub- 
lished in  1774  at  London,  there  is  good  knowledge  thus: — "The  Orkneys 
had  formerly  their  own  kings,  till  subdued  by  Kenneth  McAlpin,  King  of 
Scotland,  about  the  year  840 ;  but  not  resting  quiet  under  the  conqueror, 
Donald  Bane,  King  of  Scotland,  in  the  year  1009,  took  the  opportunity  to 
get  rid  of  them,  by  giving  the  Orkneys  up  to  the  King  of  Norway  for  assist- 
ing him  in  his  usurpation.  Under  this  authority  the  Norwegians  invaded 
the  Orkneys,  reduced  them  to  their  obedience,  and  kept  possession  for  164 
years,  when  Magnus,  King  of  Norway,  sold  them  to  Alexander,  King  of 
Scotland,  who  granted  the  property  of  all  these  islands  to  his  favourite 
Speire,  from  whom  it  descended  in  the  female  line  to  the  Sinclairs  or  St. 
Clares  ;  one  of  whom  married  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  and 
was  honoured  with  the  titles  of  Prince  of  Orkney,  Duke  Oldenburg,  &c." 
Speire,  Sper,  Sparre,  and  Sparres,  as  well  as  the  mistaken  or  evil  spelling 
of  Sware  by  Sir  Robert  Gordon  in  his  "  Genealogy  of  the  Earls  of  Suther- 
land," mean  the  same  family  of  the  favourite,  a  southern  Scotchman. 

x. 

A  Latin  diploma,  dated  1st  June,  1406,  at  Kirkwall,  by  Thomas  Tulloch, 

Bishop  of  Orkney,  and  by  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral  of  Kirkwall,  which 

w 


170  CAITHNESS 

was  addressed  to  Eric,  King  of  Norway,  gives  the  genealogy  of  Prince 
William,  son  of  Prince  Henry,  the  discoverer  of  America,  and  the  latter  has 
his  paragraphs  in  it.  See  for  this  invaluable  official  document  vol.  3  of  "  The 
Bannatyne  Miscellany,"  published  1827.  The  first  translator  of  it  from 
the  Latin  was  T.  Guild  in  1554,  a  Newbottle  monk.  The  famous  author 
of  "  Satan's  Invisible  World  Discovered  "  (not  America),  George  Sinclair, 
professor  of  Natural  Philosophy,  Glasgow  University,  appointed  1672, 
afterwards  minister  of  Eastwood,  Renfrewshire,  has  a  genealogical  preface 
to  one  of  his  books.  Alexander  Nisbet,  the  herald,  in  his  "  Memorial  of 
the  Ancient  Family  of  Sinclair  of  Roslin,''  says  that  it  was  Sir  Henry  of  the 
Bruce  and  Baliol  wars  (the  successful  battle  of  Edward  Baliol  at  Dupplin 
taking  place  in  1332)  who  "  married  Florentia,  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Denmark,  with  whom  he  got  a  great  estate  in  Norway  ;  and  from  his 
mother  he  had  Zetland  and  Orkney."  Of  the  discoverer  he  says  that  he 
was  "Knight  of  the  Thistle,  Knight  of  the  Cockle,  and  Knight  of  the 
Golden  Fleece  ;  and  married,  as  second  wife,  the  fair  Egidia,  the  grand- 
daughter of  Robert  II."  Of  his  son  Prince  William  he  says  he  was  Duke 
of  Oldenburg  in  Denmark,  and  "  the  greatest  subject  by  far  of  all  others  of 
his  time,"  whose  daughter  "  Helen  was  married  to  the  Duke  of  Albany, 
heir-presumptive,  as  nearest  Stuart,  to  the  throne  of  Scotland."  In  another 
passage  this  noted  Scotch  genealogist  says,  "  Henricus  de  Sancto  Claro,  heir 
of  the  great  family  of  the  Sinclairs  of  Roslin,  who  not  only  overtopped  the 
other  families  of  Sinclairs  who  were  equal  to  them  in  antiquity,  but  most  of 
the  noble  families  in  the  kingdom,  for  they  were  Earls  of  Orkney  and  then 
of  Caithness;"  and  again,  in  describing  the  Herdmanstons,  he  says  John 
"  was  married  with  the  other  ancient  but  far  more  powerful  family  of  the 
Sinclairs  of  Roslin,  who  in  truth  exceeded  most  other  families  in  the 
kingdom  for  grandeur  and  wealth."  He  thinks  that  Gregory  of  Long- 
formacus,  who  appears  in  1384,  was  a  brother  of  Prince  Henry,  the 
discoverer  of  Vinland.  Daniel  Defoe,  the  author  of  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  in 
his  "  Travels  and  Guide  Book,"  says,  "  The  Sinclairs  lost  the  Orkneys  and 
Shetlands  by  the  extravagance  of  William  the  Waster,  as  he  was  called. 
They  got  those  through  marrying  their  heiress,  a  Speire.  Lord  Ravensheuch 
of  Fifeshire  was  the  head  of  the  family."     With  a  rider  as  to  the  real  facts 


EVENTS.  171 

about  William,  these  references  of  the  Englishman  are  good.  The  marriage 
to  the  Speire  lady  took  place  in  1331  ;  and  her  husband  paid  homage  for 
the  territories  he  had  with  her  to  Haco,  King  of  Norway,  soon  after  the 
happy  event. 

In  his  "  History  of  the  Maekays,"  1829,  Robert  Mackay  has  a  detailed 
account,  taken  chiefly  from  Bishop  Tulloch's  diploma,  printed  in  1827. 
Magnus,  Earl  of  Orkney  and  Caithness,  who  signed  the  letter  to  the  pope  in 
1320,  was  the  last,  he  says,  of  the  Danish  line  descended  from  Rognvald, 
Earl  of  More,  Norway,  and  had  only  one  child,  a  daughter.  She 
married  Julius  Spier  or  Spar,  the  king's  favourite,  Earl  of  Strathearne, 
afterwards  a  palatine  county.  Their  heiress  daughter  married  Malise 
Crahame,  the  Earl  of  Stratherne,  through  her  right.  Their  eldest  son, 
Malise,  married,  first,  a  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Menteith,  by  whom  he  had 
a  daughter  only,  Matilda  Grahame,  the  wife  of  Wayland  Ard.  He  married, 
secondly,  a  daughter  of  Hugh,  Earl  of  Ross,  by  whom  he  had  four 
daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  married  Lord  William,  the  baron  of  Roslin. 
By  Wayland  Ard  Matilda  had  a  son,  Alexander  Ard,  who  in  his  mother's 
right  became  Earl  of  Caithness,  and  held  rights  over  part  of  Orkney,  but 
who  alienated  all  to  Robert  II.,  the  first  Stuart  King  of  Scotland,  dying 
without  heir.  It  was  his  claims  to  Orkney  that  the  second  Prince  Henry, 
at  his  investiture  in  1379,  had  to  take  precautionary  measures  against  in 
writing.  Haco,  King  of  Norway,  granted  the  earldom  of  Orkney  to  the 
first  Prince  Henry,  the  son  of  Lord  William  by  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Ross.  This  Henry  married  first  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Denmark, 
without  issue  ;  and  next  Jane  Haliburton,  daughter  of  Lord  Haliburton, 
Dirleton  Castle,  Haddingtonshire,  by  whom  he  had  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney. 
[This  is  the  discoverer,  but  his  father  was  William].  Henry  married  the 
fair  Egidia,  daughter  of  the  famous  Black  Douglas  by  Egidia  Stuart, 
daughter  of  King  Robert  the  Second  [by  Elizabeth  More  the  concubine]. 
Malise  Grahame,  second  of  the  name,  Earl  of  Stratherne,  Orkney,  and 
Caithness,  was  declared  an  outlaw  and  stripped  of  his  titles  and  possessions 
by  the  Scottish  king  and  parliament  in  1344,  for  disposing  of  the  earldom 
of  Caithness  to  Earl  Warennc,  an  Englishman,  "  the  Scottish  king's  enemy,'' 
says   Sir   George    Balfour,  the   Scotch   genealogist  and  antiquary  of  the 


172  CAITHNESS 

sixteenth  century,  as  also  say  the  state  records.  Caithness  earldom 
thereafter  remained  crown  property  till  Robert  III.  granted  it  to  his 
half-brother  Walter  Stuart,  Earl  of  Athole,  as  most  jurists  believe,  the 
legitimate  royal  Stuart  and  proper  king.  Mackay  gives  1420  as  the  date  of 
Prince  Henry  the  discoverer's  death.  He  says  the  Sinclairs  held  the 
Orkneys  under  the  Kings  of  Denmark  ;  and  as  they  had  also  lands  and  titles 
in  Scotland,  these  kings  were  jealous  of  them,  and  admitted  their  claims  to 
the  Orkneys  under  severe  conditions  and  burdens.  Of  this  severity  the 
investitures  show  nothing  really,  though  that  interpretation  might  be  taken 
by  those  unacquainted  with  feudalism.  His  other  conclusion  is  sounder, 
namely,  that  the  King  of  Scotland,  because  they  were  in  homage  to 
Denmark,  and  because  of  the  exhorbitancy  of  their  power,  never  would 
admit  their  claims  to  Caithness  on  the  mainland  of  Scotland  while  they 
were  the  Princes  of  Orkney,  but  that  they  never  dropped  their  rights  to 
both.  Such  a  claim  strongly  supports  the  growing  impression  that  the 
discoverer's  grandfather  Prince  Henry  I.  was  also  Earl  of  Caithness  by 
courtesy,  that  is,  by  being  the  husband  of  the  Countess  of  Caithness,  a  sole 
heiress,  as  the  great  antiquary  Hearne  has  stated.  Calder,  p.  102,  has  a 
Norse  theory  of  Sinclair  Earls  of  Caithness  from  1331.  But  on  the  claims 
and  alliances  of  various  families  in  the  connection,  see  Dr  Anderson's 
excellent  discussions  in  his  edition  of  the  "Orkneyinga  Saga,"  and,  still 
better,  see  Bishop  Tulloch  of  the  fifteenth  century  himself  in  the  "  Banna  - 
tyne  Miscellany."  By  help  of  the  bishop's  unprejudiced  historical  facts  Sir 
Robert  Gordon's  "  Short  Discourse  of  the  Earl  of  Sutherland's  Precedence 
in  Parliament  before  the  Earls  of  Caithness,"  pp.  425-444  of  his 
"  Genealogy,"  written  in  1630,  can  be  also  made  most  useful  in  exactly  the 
contrary  of  its  author's  sinister  intentions,  so  shaky  a  business  is  either 
deliberate  lying  or  selfish  enthusiasm.  The  facts  of  antiquity  against  which 
he  fulminates  he  is  the  unconscious  and  outwitted  instrument  of  recording  ; 
which  facts  such  writing  as  the  bishop's  thoroughly  authenticates.  In  this 
vein  Gordon's  so-called  "  fabulous  and  forged  reveries  "  turn  out  to  be  truths, 
and  they  can  be  read  by  his  opposites  to  good  purpose.  The  Earls  of 
Caithness  could  trace  back  from  Reginald,  Earl  of  More  (or  Moray,  "  a 
plain  "),  in  Norway,  the  father  of  Rollo,  first  Duke  of  Normandy,  of  whose 


EVENTS.  173 

male  descent  they  were  and  are,  coming  from  Normandy  to  England,  to 
Scotland  thence,  and  back  again  to  Norseland.  Even  as  a  Seton,  which 
Gordon  was,  he  befooled  himself;  because  the  Setons  were  an  English  branch 
of  the  same  stock  as  the  house  of  Caithness  ;  the  Sutherland  predecessors 
of  the  Gordons  ancient,  but  novi  homines  to  the  Rollo  lineage. 

XI. 

In  Pinkerton's  "  History  of  Scotland,"  published  at  London  in  1797, 
there  is  knowledge  about  Prince  Henry  the  navigator  and  discoverer.  He 
gives,  from  Torfaeus,  the  conditions  of  the  investiture  with  the  earldom  of 
Orkney.  The  great-grandfather  of  Henry,  Sir  William,  of  Bannockburn 
fame,  obtained  the  Orkneys,  he  wrongly  thinks  by  marrying  a  daughter  of 
the  Earl  of  Stratherne,  whose  first  name  he  makes  Malise,  though  it  was 
Julius,  the  Sparre  favourite  of  the  king.  Prince  Henry's  death  date  he, 
also,  gives  as  1420.  The  next  to  him  was  William,  "  the  celebrated 
Chancellor,  who  in  1470  surrendered  the  Orkneys  to  the  Scottish  crown. 
To  this  great  man,  who  held  the  earldom  when  the  cessation  of  it  by 
Norway  to  Scotland  was  made,  it  may  appear  that  Scotland  was  not  a  little 
indebted  for  this  advantage."  He  says  that  the  Kings  of  Denmark,  who 
annexed  Norway  to  their  kingdom  in  1387  (all  Scandinavia,  Sweden 
included,  often  under  one  king),  were  the  superiors  during  most  of  the 
discoverer's  time  ;  and  he  gives  the  knowledge,  already  stated,  that  from 
1422  to  1434  the  Norse  government  appointed  rulers  over  the  Orkneys 
during  the  minority  of  Prince  William,  the  Chancellor,  1434  his  year  of 
investiture  by  Eric,  King  of  Denmark.  It  was  Eric  who  ceded  the  Orkneys 
to  James  III.  of  Scotland,  as  marriage  dowry  with  his  daughter,  Margaret. 
Pinkerton  admits  his  obligations  to  Torfaeus  for  his  facts,  but  he  has  used 
them  to  purpose.  The  light  thrown  on  the  discoverer's  life  by  one  passage  of 
his  obtains  him  credit  for  prescience,  considering  the  time  he  wrote,  at  the 
end  of  last  century,  when  there  was  no  very  strong  interest  connected  with 
the  question.  Fiske  has  referred  to  him,  but  here  is  his  meditation  : — "  In 
1390  happened  the  strange  voyage  of  Nicolo  Zeno  to  Shetland  ;  [the  book 
describing  it]  published  at  Venice,  1558,  in  octavo.  The  learned  dissent 
much  with  regard  to  the  veracity  of  the  volume.     If  real,  the  author's 


171  CAITHNESS 

Frisland  is  the  Faroe  Islands,  and  his  Zichmni  is  Sinclair.  His  book  is 
one  of  the  most  puzzling  in  the  whole  circle  of  literature."  The  puzzle, 
thanks  to  Major,  to  Fiske,  and  to  other  Americans,  has  vanished,  leaving  a 
residuum  of  unmistakably  important  and  permanent  historical  fact,  a  corner 
foundation  stone  of  America's  story,  past  and  future.  Among  other 
narration,  he  says  Bo  war  relates  that  Roslin  Chapel  was  building  when  he 
wrote  in  1444,  and  that  Crawford  officially  dated  the  founding  of  it  as 
1441,  Spottiswoode  also  agreeing;  the  service  to  be  by  a  provost,  six 
prebendaries,  and  two  singing-boys. 

Thomas  Hearne  [1678-1735],  in  his  "Antiquities  of  Great  Britain," 
says  that  Henry  "  succeeded  to  the  honours  and  estates  of  his  father,  and, 
by  marriage  with  the  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  the  Earl  of  Caithness, 
added  the  title  of  Prince  of  the  Orkneys  and  of  the  lands  of  those  islands, 
held  at  that  time  under  the  crown  of  Denmark,  to  his  other  dignities  and 
possessions."  This  was  the  first  Prince  Henry,  who,  if  Hearne  is  correct, 
was  thus  Earl  of  Caithness  in  right  of  his  wife  about  1322.  Of  the  second, 
the  discoverer  of  America,  he  says  that  he  "  succeeded  to  this  principality, 
together  with  the  barony  of  Roslin,  and  built  the  great  dungeon  or  citadel 
at  Roslin  Castle,  with  many  grand  apartments.  It  is  said  the  dignity  of 
this  prince  was  supported  by  an  uncommonly  great  and  splendid  retinue, 
and  that  he  was  particularly  munificent  to  the  church.  He  gave  lands  to 
the  abbey  of  Holyroodhouse  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  7000  sheep, 
with  a  number  of  rich,  embroidered  cups,  for  the  more  honourable 
celebration  of  divine  worship,  and  founded  several  churches  besides  within 
his  barony.  William,  his  son,  after  the  death  of  this  prince,  lived  in  still 
greater  splendour  at  Roslin."  Hearne  goes  on  with  details  about  his 
generous  pay  to  the  builders  he  employed  from  all  countries  numerously, 
and  mentions  the  date  of  the  great  fire  which  occurred  at  Roslin  Castle, 
namely,  1447.  But  the  narrative  of  the  English  antiquarian  must  not  be 
followed  beyond  the  discoverer,  who,  it  may  be  added,  gave  gifts  to 
Kewbottle  Abbey  as  well  as  to  Holyrood  Abbey. 

The  Harleian  MS.  4238,  has  an  account  of  the  family  of  Sinclair,  Earl 
of  Orkney.  In  the  Zeno  book,  Prince  Henry  is  spoken  of  as  also  great  in 
Scotland  by  title,  as  well  as  in  the  Scandinavian  empire.     He  built  a  fort 


EVENTS.  175 

at  Bressay  Sound,  where  Cromwell  afterwards  erected  one  which  is  still 
existing,  near  where  the  chief  town  of  Shetland  is  situated,  Lerwick,  then 
non-existent.  Beatson's  "Political  Index"  to  the  date  of  1379  puts  Sir 
Henry  Sinclair,  Earl  of  Orkney,  and  adds,  "  It  seems  uncertain  whether 
this  earldom  reverted  to  the  crown  in  1471  by  a  surrender  of  the  patent  or 
a  forfeiture.  This  1379  creation  was  by  Haco,  King  of  Norway,  but 
confirmed  the  same  year  by  Robert  II.,  King  of  Scotland."  It  has  already 
been  said  that  the  marriage  of  James  III.  to  Margaret  of  Denmark  was  the 
cause  of  annexation ;  and  there  is  a  quantity  of  documents  in  the  state 
records  of  Scotland  explaining  the  process  of  divesting  William,  who 
received  Caithness  earldom,  Ravensheuch,  and  many  other  estates  in 
Fifeshire  and  elsewhere  as  exchange  for  his  principality. 

When  Alexander  Ard,  the  son  of  Matilda  Grahame,  resigned  Caithness 
and  Strathearne  earldoms  and  parts  of  Orkney  to  the  crown,  David  Stuart, 
2nd  son  of  Robert  II.,  had  Caithness ;  and  the  third  son  Alexander  by 
Elizabeth  More  the  concubine,  called  "  The  Wolf  of  Badenoch  "  from  his 
fierce  character,  was  by  charter  of  1372  made  king's  lieutenant  over  all  the 
north  of  Scotland  to  the  Pentland  Firth.  Euphcmia  Ross,  heiress  of  the 
earldom  of  Ross,  brought  the  earldom  of  Scrathearne  to  Robert  II.,  when 
she  became  Queen  of  Scotland  as  his  wife ;  and  it  is  through  this  Ross 
connection  that  the  affairs  of  the  Sinclairs  intermingled  so  much  with  those 
of  the  royal  Stuarts  ;  the  Ross  rights  to  Caithness,  &c,  running  to  both 
families,  as  they  did  also  to  the  Macdonald  Lords  of  the  Isles,  with  in  this 
last  case  fatal  results  like  the  sanguinary  battle  of  Harlaw,  Aberdeenshire, 
in  1411. 

XII. 

"  The  Rolls  of  Scotland,"  carried  to  the  Tower  of  London,  and  kept 
afterwards  in  the  chapter-house  of  Westminster  Abbey,  but  placed  now  in 
the  Record  Office,  Fetter  Lane,  London,  have  many  notices  of  the 
discoverer.  King  Richard  II.  of  England  gave  a  safe-conduct  or  passport 
to  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney  and  Lord  of  Roslin,  from  10th  March,  1391-2,  to 
Michaelmas,  with  permission  to  be  accompanied  by  24  persons,  the 
necessary  horses,  &c,  with  proviso  that  no  one  fleeing  the  English  laws 


176  CAITHNESS 

should  be  of  the  company.  The  king  signed  it  at  Leeds  Castle,  Kent. 
January  30th,  1405-6,  Henry  IV.  signed  a  safe-conduct  for  13  Scottish 
magnates,  among  whom  was  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  50  persons  allowed  as 
their  company.  The  magnates  were  to  be  hostages  for  the  Earl  of  Douglas, 
who  was  to  go  to  Scotland.  He  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  English 
King  in  aiding  Percy's  rebellion,  and  was  ultimately  freed  by  ransom.  John 
Stuart,  son  of  the  Regent  of  Scotland  (the  Duke  of  Albany),  and  Sir 
William  Sinclair,  the  latter  the  son  of  Prince  Henry  by  Florentia  of 
Denmark,  were  two  of  those  hostages.  On  15th  March,  1406,  the  same  king, 
from  Westminster,  gave  a  safe-conduct  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  and  to 
Walter,  Lord  Haliburton,  to  come  into  England  with  40  persons,  to  stay 
till  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  Of  date  Westminster,  8th  April, 
1407,  Henry  IV.  signed  passport  to  Patrick  Thomson  and  Henry  Shipman, 
the  masters  of  a  ship  from  Scotland,  and  to  Alexander  Johnson  and  Robert 
Black,  of  Scotland,  with  12  persons  accompanying  them  to  London  by  ship 
with  goods  and  merchandise  coming  with  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney.  On  the 
supplication  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  Alexander  Ledale,  and  Robert 
Williamson,  armorials-bearing  gentlemen  and  followers  of  that  earl,  had  a 
safe -conduct  with  8  persons  by  sea  and  land  within  England,  dated  by 
private  seal  at  Westminster,  4th  January,  1407-8,  from  Henry  the  Usurper 
or  IV.,  the  permission  to  last  till  Pentecost.  Of  date  14th  April,  1416, 
Henry  V.,  at  Westminster,  London,  gave  his  protection  in  England  till 
15th  August  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Orkney,  with  20  persons,  coming  from  and 
returning  to  Scotland. 

When  Henry  V.  was  going  to  France  in  1421,  he  gave  permission  to 
James  I.  of  Scotland,  England's  prisoner  then  15  years,  to  visit  his  country  ? 
of  date  Westminster,  31st  May,  for  three  months,  with  hostages  20  in  num- 
ber in  his  room,  5  of  them  earls ;  William,  Earl  of  Orkney,  one  of  these. 
This  favour  was  at  the  instigation  of  the  Earl  of  Douglas.  The  special 
point  to  notice  in  reference  to  the  biography  of  the  discoverer  here,  is  that 
he  died  before  31st  May,  1421,  instead  of  in  1422,  as  Fordun  says ;  for  his 
son  William,  by  this  record  of  state,  was  then  described  as  Earl  of 
Orkney.  King  James  was  not  finally  freed  to  go  to  his  kingdom  until 
1423,  after  17  vears  of  detention  from  his  capture  by  Henry  IV.  in  1406. 


EVENTS.  177 

It  is  not  known,  however,  that  he  thus  visited  his  country  at  intervals  on 
the  hostage  principle ;  and  Henry's  frequent  visits  to  England,  must  have 
been  in  his  capacity  of  hereditary  tutor  to  the  Princes  of  Scotland. 

Henry's  brother  John  had  a  safe-conduct  from  Henry  V.  to  come  to 
England  with  12  persons  of  any  rank,  to  treat  about  the  King  of  Scotland's 
return  and  his  own  going  to  France  in  1421.     On  15th  May,  1412,  from 
Westminster,  Henry  V.  had  given  him  a  passport  for  himself  and  two 
others,  the  party  to  be  20  persons  while  in  England.     Again  and   again 
Sir  John  appears  as  one  of  Scotland's  wise  men,  brother  of  the  discoverer  of 
America,  both  of  them  well  known  in  European  courts  as  accomplished  chiefs 
of  their  time.     From  Windsor  Richard  II.  gave  a  safe-conduct  to  Sir  John, 
this  brother,  as  ambassador,  and  to  three  others,  with  60  horses,  on  24th 
July,  1392,  "to  discuss  negotiations  with  our  Scotch  enemies."     Henry  IV. 
from  Pontefract,  Yorkshire,  on  30th  June,   1404,  gave  Sir  John  a  passport 
for  a  quarter  of  a  year;  and  again,  from  Leicester,  2nd  August,  1404,  till 
Easter.      From   Tutbury   one   is   granted  to   him   and   two    others,  13th 
September,  1404,  till  paschal  feast,  with  twelve  persons.     Richard  II.  from 
Westminster,  23rd  October,  1395,  gave  him  passport  for  a  year,   with  13 
followers   on    horseback.      He,    Lord    Dundas,    Robert   Trofort,    and    12 
servants,    with    the    Earl   of    Douglas,    had    passport    from    Henry    IV. 
dated   Westminster,  28th    September,  1406,   which    must   have   been    for 
getting  James  I.  of  Scotland  out  of  Henry  IV.  the  King  of  England's  hands, 
after  his  inhospitable,  perfidious  capture  a  few  months  before,  together  with 
his  guardian,  the  Admiral  of  Scotland,  Prince  Henry  of  Orkney.     Sir  John 
and  others,  with  12  persons,  had  a  safe-conduct  on  16th  July,  1413,  when 
Henry  V.  had  just  come  to  the  throne  (hope  long  given  up  of  the  clemency 
of  his  father,  the  Lancastrian  Henry  IV.),  to  negotiate  "  for  the  delivery  of 
the  King  of  Scotland."     They  were  on  their  way  to  France.     At  West- 
minster Henry  V.  on  19th  August,  1413,  gave  permission  to  Sir  John  to 
carry  through  England  to  Scotland  a  quantity  of  armaturas,  that  is,  coats 
of  mail   and  fighting  accoutrements.     These  brothers  were  as  familiar  in 
Southern  as  they  were  in  Northern  Europe,  France  being  a  happy  hunting- 
ground  for  the  Scotch  in  particular.     Sir  John  with  William  Cockburn  had 
another  passport  of  date  20th  July,  1413,  to  last  till  the  following  Easter, 


178  CAITHNESS 

with  12  followers.  On  9th  June,  1421,  at  Dover,  Henry  the  Fifth  gave 
him  30  lancers,  and  a  safe-conduct,  going  to  Rouen  in  Normandy  with 
himself  and  King  James  I.  of  Scotland.  Sir  John's  brother  Prince  Henry 
was  then  dead,  as  has  been  seen  ;  and  the  "  Rolls  of  Scotland  "  are  entirely 
silent  about  Sir  John  also  after  this  entry.  He  seems  to  have  exerted 
himself  greatly  for  the  cultivated  poet-king,  though  without  effect  up  to 
the  1421  date. 

Capper,  in  his  "  Topographical  Dictionary,"  published  at  London  in 
1808,  says  the  chapel  of  Roslin  Castle  "  was  founded  in  1446  by  the  Prince 
of  Orkney  and  Duke  of  Oldenburg."  This  was  William,  the  first  Earl 
of  Caithness,  by  the  ordinary  reckoning.  Of  the  castle  it  is  said  that  it 
was  "  the  favourite  of  the  great  family."  The  "  Edinburgh  Gazetteer  "  of 
1822  gives  the  dimensions  of  the  chapel  as  69  feet  long,  34  broad,  and  40 
high  ;  its  marvellous  internal  beauty  quite  taking  away  the  realisation  of  its 
smallness,  by  admiration  for  its  harmony. 

XIII. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  asked  what  modern  or  Caithnessian  value 
has  these  gatherings  of  antiquarianism.  The  brief  account  in  the  first 
chapter  might  have  been  enough.  But  to  some  of  the  brightest  minds  of 
America  the  burning  question  has  of  late  been  whether  the  Latin  or  Saxon 
race  is  to  have  the  supremacy  of  their  country  ;  the  intense  activity  of 
Roman  Catholicism  contrasted  with  the  apathy  of  Protestantism  giving 
philosophers  and  statesmen  pause  as  to  the  near  results,  notwithstanding 
the  power  of  science  and  reason.  The  glorification  of  Columbus  in  the 
discovery  centenary  of  1892  was  an  aid  towards  the  threatened  Spanish  or 
Latin  domination  ;  and  Scandinavian  energy  has  been  in  movement, 
especially  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition  of  1893,  to  counteract  the  southern 
tide,  by  ascribing  the  discovery  of  America  to  Norsemen  of  the  Teuton 
stock,  including,  as  principal  factors,  the  English  and  the  Dutch. 
Caithnessmen,  especially  of  Canada  and  the  United  States,  have  the 
strongest  personal  interest  in  such  a  gigantic  Armageddon  contest  of  blood 
and  belief,  if  it  is  to  be  early  fact.  That  the  ancestor  of  many  of  them,  and 
one  in  affinity  with  more,  such  as  Mowats,  Bremners  {e.g.,  the  naval  officer 


EVENTS.  179 

mentioned  in  the  preface,  now  of  the  Centurion,  flagship,  China,  who  was 
kinship  to  Hon.  Robert  Sinclair,  Wick),  Cormacks,  Millers,  Sutherlands, 
Bruces,  Keiths,  and  others,  is  the  principal  figure  to  oppose  to  the  renowned 
Italian  Christopher,  makes  Prince  Henry  Sinclair  II.  of  as  much  present  as 
past  relation,  not  only  to  district,  but  to  the  widest  of  the  world's 
movements ;  parochialism  not  the  note  of  the  northern  vikings,  roving  now 
for  property,  knowledge,  and  rule  as  of  yore. 


ISO  CAITHNESS  EVENTS. 


EXPLANATION. 


When  "Caithness  Events"  had  been  quite  finished  for  press,  a  revelation  came 
from  the  noteworthy  acumen  of  Bailie  Charles  Bruce,  E.S.A.,  Scot.  He  had 
remembered  reading  the  Kennedy  MS.  in  print  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  and 
after  putting  his  brain  on  the  rack  as  to  where,  discovered  that  it  had  appeared 
in  the  John  O'Groat  Journal  on  the  following  dates,  namely,  2nd  February,  2nd 
March,  1st  May,  2nd  June,  3rd  August,  16th  September,  14th  October,  1836  ; 
31st  March,  2nd  June,  20th  October,  1837;  and  16th  February,  20th  April, 
7th,  14th,  21st  September,  2nd,  16th  November,  1838.  If  this  takes  away  the 
prestige  of  first  publication,  the  long  period  since  the  MS.  was  printed,  and  the 
inaccessibility  of  it  to  the  public,  in  the  practically  buried  old  columns  of  a 
newspaper,  are  ample  reasons  for  its  reappearance.  It  is  an  ordinary  thing, 
besides,  for  journalistic  contributions  to  be  republished  in  book  form  to  insure 
permanence  for  good  material.  The  same  kindly  authority  has  further  favoured 
with  the  following: — "The  editor  of  the  John  07  Groat  Journal  at  the  time 
was  Benjamin  Miller  Kennedy,  a  son  of  Captain  Kennedy,  the  compiler  of  the 
IMS.  Captain  Kennedy  had  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  One  of  the  sons 
died  in  Berbice,  British  Guiana.  Benjamin  left  Wick,  established  the  Guide 
newspaper,  Arbroath,  and  died  there.  Neither  of  the  brothers  was  married.  Of 
the  daughters,  Isabella  married  Captain  Macpherson,  the  Lieutenant  A.  Macpher- 
son  of  the  Caithness  Legion.  See  Calder's  *  History  of  Caithness.'  He  died  in 
1869,  aged  100.  Louisa  married  William  Davidson,  fishcurer,  Wick.  He  died 
in  1832.  Mrs  Davidson  and  family  soon  after  went  to  America.  Marion  mar- 
ried William  Waters,  many  years  bailie  and  afterwards  for  a  short  time,  from 
February,  1858,  provost  of  Wick.  He  and  his  wife  resided  in  the  house  built 
for  Captain  Kennedy  by  the  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Waters,  James  Taylor,  master- 
builder  of  the  town  about  the  end  of  last  century.  Her  brother  Benjamin 
lived  with  them,  and  kept  up  regular  correspondence  after  he  went  to  Arbroath." 
Additional  knowledge  exists  in  letters  between  Provost  Waters  and  Donald 
Home  of  Langwell  about  shares  which  Captain  Kennedy  held  in  the  British 
Fisheries  Society.  As  they  were  written  in  consequence  of  his  death,  and  the 
title  of  captain  is  expressly  used  in  them,  it  is  clear  that  the  attachment  of 
major  to  his  name  on  the  back  of  the  MS.,  by  another  and  later  hand  than  his, 
was  a  mistake.  A  letter  by  the  son  Benjamin,  in  which  there  is  a  paragraph 
relating  to  the  MS.,  and  copies  both  of  the  will  of  1833  and  settlement  of  estate 
in  1 835  of  the  son  Bobert,  still  survive,  as  well  as  tacks  and  other  documents, 
in  which  "  Captain"  Kennedy  is  mentioned. 


THE  END. 


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publisher,  Mr.  Rae  of  Wick,  this  new  edition  has  appeared,  got  up  in  good  form  and  with 
its  attractions  and  usefulness  enhanced  by  a  map  and  illustrations  and  by  the  addition  of 

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of  it.  Your  part  has  been  executed  particularly  well,  the  paper  and  type  are  very  good, 
and  also  the  cloth  binding  quite  substantial  and  neat.  The  Sutherland,  Caithness,  and 
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critically  compares  and  examines  them  ;  and  he  traces  the  various  branches  of  the  family 
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Sutherlands  and  Sinclairs,  and  other  northern  clans  and  landed  families,  and  thus  their 
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